American diplomats will cover the Belarusian Maidan protesters with a “wall of fire”
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko decided to return the American ambassador to Minsk after a ten-year break due to the changed foreign policy context.
Belarusian journalist Franak Vyachorka said this on the Voice of America, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The context has changed. Crimea happened, Ukraine happened, Putin began expansion into Europe. It became beneficial for Lukashenko to have an American ambassador for two reasons. The first is to balance Russian influence in Belarus. And secondly, to receive some kind of financial support from American structures,” Vyachorka said.
At the same time, he believes that the American ambassador will return to Belarus for a short time.
“I think Russia won’t like this, Russia will put pressure. She will perceive the ambassador’s return to American public diplomacy very warily. And I’m not sure that in a year or two the ambassador will not be recalled again after the presidential elections, if, like in 2010, mass protests happen again and thousands of people will go to jail,” Vyachorka said.
According to him, American diplomats who allow themselves to attend events of the Belarusian opposition work as a “wall of fire and special protection” for activists: special forces and police are beginning to act more cautiously towards them.
The restoration of the diplomatic missions of the United States and Belarus was announced 10 days ago following the visit of US Deputy Secretary of State David Hale to Minsk.
Minsk recalled its ambassador to America, Mikhail Khvostov, in 2008 after the United States imposed sanctions against Belarus in response to Minsk’s refusal to release oppositionist and ex-presidential candidate Alexander Kazulin from prison. At the same time, the head of the American diplomatic mission in Belarus, Karen Stewart, was asked to leave the country.
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