Pompeo - historical visit to Minsk
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets today with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus.
Mike Pompeo said that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies.
Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk 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.
“The United States wants to help Belarus build its own sovereign country,” Pompeo said at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. “Our energy producers stand ready to deliver 100% of the oil you need at competitive prices. We’re the biggest energy producer in the world and all you have to do is call us.”
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 U.S. wants to help fill the vacuum and will continue to boost staffing at its embassy in Minsk, which was severely reduced 12 years ago when the U.S. imposed significant sanctions on the country over human rights abuses. The two countries agreed in September to exchange ambassadors for the first time since 2008. Pompeo said a new U.S. ambassador would be named soon.
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 urged economic and political reforms as well as improved human rights conditions — a message similar to those he will be bringing to his next stops in 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.
Moscow argues that Belarus should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russia’s domestic prices.
This has prompted fears in Belarus that the Kremlin is plotting to form a single state with Belarus to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in power well past the end of his term in 2024.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday called for "real progress" in relations between the United States and Belarus, as he met the country's president Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
Pompeo raised the fact that it was the first visit to Belarus, a close ally of Russia, by a US Secretary of State since 1994, when Warren Christopher accompanied then-president Bill Clinton.
"Two-and-a-half decades, that's too long, we're a bit overdue," he said at a press conference with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei following talks with the president.
After a long freeze, US has recently warmed ties with a country that is often described as Europe's last dictatorship and has been led by former collective farm director Lukashenko since 1994.
At a meeting at the capital's gleaming Palace of Independence, Pompeo told Lukashenko it had been "too long" and said Washington wants to build closer ties.
"We are confident that together we can make real progress across every dimension of our relationship," he said.
"All these things I hope you will see as a good-faith attempt to truly engage politically and diplomatically."
The Belarusian strongman told Pompeo that it was "very good that you risked coming to Minsk after various misunderstandings between Belarus and the US."
He jokingly referred his authoritarian rule as they shook hands, saying: "what makes our dictatorship different is that everyone rests at the weekend but the president works."
Pompeo is on a tour of ex-Soviet countries that began in Ukraine and will continue to Central Asian Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Washington says it wants to "normalise" relations with Minsk, while Lukashenko is seeking a counterweight in relations with giant neighbour Russia, Minsk's main ally and energy provider.
Pompeo said that the US does not want to tear Belarus away from Russia.
"We understand you're a neighbour, there's a long history with Russia, it's not about picking between the two," he said.
Mike Pompeo has tried to de-ice relations with Belarus, a country sanctioned by the US over a decade ago, promising to appoint an ambassador to Minsk along with other perks for siding with Washington.
“We are confident that together we can make real progress across every dimension of our relationship,” Pompeo told President Alexander Lukashenko as he greeted him on Saturday.
Returning the charm offensive, the Belarusian leader said it was “very good that you risked coming to Minsk after various misunderstandings between Belarus and the US.”
Lukashenko, whom Western media notoriously labeled “Europe’s last dictator,” poked fun at his reputation afterwards, saying that Pompeo would be able to see “what kind of people, what kind of dictatorship and democracy” is in Belarus, and decide “if it’s a lot or a little.”
The post-Soviet country has been at odds with Washington since 2006 when it accused Lukashenko of “human rights abuses” and oppression of opponents, as well as slapping sanctions on nine state-owned entities and 16 individuals including Lukashenko himself.
Belarus reacted by recalling its ambassador to Washington and telling the US envoy to leave. Back in 2015, Minsk made a number of conciliatory moves, after which the US suspended sanctions on state-owned entities – but diplomatic ties haven’t got any better.
Now, Pompeo said naming an American ambassador is just around the corner. “I hope it happens quickly... it’s something that we could likely see in the not-too-distant future. We’ve made a lot of progress on it,” Pompeo told reporters, revealing that the US “has already doubled” the number of its diplomats in Minsk.
Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit Belarus in decades. He will depart Minsk for Central Asia, where he will visit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in early February.
