Kellogg travels to Belarus to meet with Lukashenko - Reuters
Keith Kellogg (Photo: ERA)

The US Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg is planning to visit Belarus in the coming days to meet with the country's self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko. This is reported by Reuters, citing four unnamed sources briefed on the matter.

Journalists say Kellogg is going to Belarus as ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia remain stalled.

If Kellogg meets with Lukashenko, he will be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the authoritarian state in recent years, Reuters notes.

The exact agenda of the meeting is unclear, although Kellogg has privately portrayed the trip as a move that could help kick-start peace talks aimed at ending the war, according to two people familiar with the matter .

The US State Department and the Belarusian embassy in Washington declined to comment. Kellogg and the White House also did not respond to Reuters' requests.

"Planning such trips requires careful consideration, and it is possible that the trip may be canceled or changed at the last minute," the journalists added .

  • In 2020, during Trump's first term as president, then-Secretary of State Mike 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 at a time when relations between Minsk and Moscow were at a low ebb.
  • Trump's successor, Joe 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.