The diplomat who supervised Yushchenko and Saakashvili will become US Ambassador to Minsk
Julie Fisher will become US Ambassador to Belarus. This is stated in a message from the White House press service, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“President Donald Trump today announced his intention to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his administration: Julie Fisher, of Tennessee, to serve as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Belarus,” the statement said.
Julie Fisher is the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western European and EU Affairs. In 2011-2013 She was introduced to NATO international headquarters as deputy director of a private office, where she covered the affairs of North America and the Baltic states. She also worked at the US embassies in Tbilisi under President Saakashvili and in Kyiv under President Yushchenko. She was Chargé d'Affaires of the United States in Russia.
Reports about Fisher's possible appointment as ambassador to Belarus appeared in the American media in February immediately after the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Minsk. Apparently, he agreed on this candidacy with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
The restoration of diplomatic representation between the United States and Belarus at the ambassadorial level was announced back in September 2019.
Minsk recalled its ambassador to America 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 the colony. At the same time, the head of the American diplomatic mission in Belarus, Karen Stewart, was asked to leave the country.
In April 2019, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei officially informed the US State Department George Kent about the lifting of restrictions on the number of embassy employees in Minsk.
As Freedom House representative Sofia Orloski said, expanding the staff of the American Embassy in Minsk will allow increasing financial assistance to non-governmental organizations that traditionally work against the Belarusian authorities and the idea of integration with Russia.
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