The United States demanded that Lukashenko release the White Maidan protesters
Advisor to the US Secretary of State Derek Cholet called the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei.
This was reported on the official website of the US State Department, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Advisor Cholet made clear the need for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Belarus without exception, in particular Radio Liberty consultant Igor Losik,” the statement said.
The adviser reportedly insisted on "genuine dialogue with the leaders of the protest movement with a view to holding free and fair elections with international supervision this year."
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry, retelling the conversation between officials, emphasized the upcoming exchange of ambassadors. Julia Fischer, who was appointed to this post back in December, will still make it to Minsk. In recent months, she has been in Poland, where she actively meets with representatives of the Belarusian political emigration.
It is reported that Makei “called on the American side to objectively approach the assessment of the situation in Belarus and focused on the counterproductiveness of attempts to put pressure on a sovereign state.” The minister allegedly said that “a number of statements from the American side were made as carbon copies,” and warned his interlocutor “from the desire to influence the work of the law enforcement or judicial system of Belarus.”
In February, it was reported that the US Ambassador intends to present her credentials not to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, whose legitimacy of election is not recognized in Washington, but to Minister Makei. In this regard, political scientists close to Lukashenko suggested recalling the agrement to the ambassador.
Before her appointment in Minsk, Fisher 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.
Her candidacy was agreed upon in February 2020 by the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. At that time, Belarus had tense relations with Russia.
Minsk recalled its ambassador to America in 2008 after the United States imposed sanctions against Belarus in response to Lukashenko’s refusal to release opposition leader 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.
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.
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