Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

FM Makei: Belarus ready to send ambassador to US soon

Euroradio

FM Makei: Belarus ready to send ambassador to US soon
Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makei / Euroradio
Belarus is ready to send the ambassador to the United States within the next several months, Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makei told Euroradio correspondent on Tuesday. The candidatures are being approved but the Minister has declined to give their names. The final approval will be made by President Aliaksandr Lukashenka.

The media reports suggested on Monday that the White House is likely to appoint Julie Fisher, currently the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department as the United States' Ambassador to Belarus.

The Belarusian MFA has not received an official notification from Washington yet.

Commenting on the relations with the United States during the visit to Dobrush Paper Factory on 4 February, President Lukashenka said that the period of cold is over.



Belarus recalled its ambassador from Washington after the United States introduced sanctions against the Belarusian state petrochemical giant Belnaftakhim in the spring of 2008. The U.S. sanctions came in to respond to human rights violations in Belarus.

After recalling the ambassador, Belarus also recommended the United States ambassador to leave. The US Embassy staff in Minsk was reduced from 35 down to 5 diplomats. Since 2008, the embassies in Minsk and Washington are headed by Charge d'Affairs.

The thawing of the relations between Minsk and Washington took place in 2014.

On 1 February, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Belarus and met with President Lukashenka. He positively assessed the results of his visit to Minsk.