Pompeo arrives in Belarus:
Europe
Pompeo
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Belarus seeking to improve ties with the former Soviet republic as its relations with Russia become further strained.
Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in more than two decades and arrived on Saturday amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the “sovereignty” and “independence” it seeks.
Belarus fears Russia is trying to absorb it and last month began purchasing gas from Norway after Russian supplies were cut off. Last week, Lukashenko accused Russia, the country’s main provider of cheap oil and gas, of stopping supplies “to dissolve Belarus.”
Pompeo said the US wants to help fill the vacuum and will continue to boost staffing at its embassy in Minsk, which was severely reduced 12 years ago. The two countries agreed in September to exchange ambassadors for the first time since 2008.
Noting the recent history of poor relations, Lukashenko lamented the “absolutely groundless misunderstandings of the past authorities” and welcomed Pompeo’s visit.
Belarus had been a candidate to be included in the Trump administration’s expanded travel ban that was announced on Friday but avoided it by taking measures to improve security cooperation and potential traveler threat information with the United States.
In addition to trying to boost American influence in Belarus, Pompeo will be urging economic and political reforms as well as improved human rights conditions – a message similar to those he will be bringing to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan later this weekend. At each stop, Pompeo will warn of attempts by Russia and China to aggressively assert themselves in Europe and Central Asia.
Russia stopped supplying oil to Belarus after Dec 31. The two nations had failed to renegotiate an agreed oil price for this year during drawn-out negotiations on deepening the integration of their economies. (AP)