Kellogg meets with Lukashenko in Minsk – video
Keith Kellogg is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in recent years
On Saturday, June 21, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko met with US Presidential Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. This was reported by the press service of the Belarusian dictator and published a video.
The meeting, attended by American and Belarusian delegations, takes place at the Palace of Independence in Minsk.
Details of the negotiations are currently unknown.
Kellogg is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in recent years.
On June 18, Reuters reported on Kellogg's planned visit to Belarus. The journalists noted that he would visit Minsk as ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia remain stalled.
- In 2020, during Trump's first term as president, then-Secretary of State Pompeo visited Belarus.
- It was the first high-level US visit to this Eastern European country in more than 20 years. The visit was part of the Trump administration's campaign to improve relations with Belarus.
- Biden changed course after the "elections" in Belarus in 2020, where Lukashenko declared himself president and violently dispersed protesters. The United States also suspended its embassy in Belarus in 2022, as it became clear to Washington that the country would support Russia in its full-scale invasion.