Pompeo goes to Lukashenko to tear Belarus away from Russia
United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will make an official visit to Belarus and Ukraine on January 4.
This was reported by Foreign Policy, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This will be the first visit of the US Secretary of State in the history of independent Belarus, but not the first high-level visit in the last six months. Let us remind you that in August, US Presidential National Security Adviser John Bolton flew to Minsk. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to follow suit and travel to Minsk in January,” the article says.
The publication calls Belarus “the last dictatorship in Europe,” which Vladimir Putin is “trying to subjugate.”
“As ties between the West and Russia slide toward their post-Cold War lows, the Trump administration is forging closer ties with one of the last countries entirely within Moscow’s orbit,” Foreign Policy writes.
Journalist of the nationalist publication “Nasha Niva” Artem Gorbatsevich clarifies in his Telegram channel that Pompeo will visit Belarus before Ukraine. There are also rumors that a new US ambassador will arrive in Minsk immediately after the New Year.
In August, US Presidential Advisor John Bolton met first with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, and then in Warsaw with the secretaries of the security councils of Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. The Ukrainian media started talking about the creation of a “new Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth” as a counterweight to Russia. Immediately after this visit, US President Donald Trump announced Bolton's resignation.
At the same time, in September it was announced that the diplomatic mission between the United States and Belarus would be restored at the ambassadorial level. 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 of this year, 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 working against the Belarusian authorities and the idea of integration with Russia.
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