US looking for ‘appropriate candidate’ as special envoy to Belarus

‘I hope we'll have somebody to talk to you about in the not too distant future,’ US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs tells Senate Committee

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US is looking for an “appropriate candidate” to serve as a special envoy to Belarus, a State Department official said Thursday.

“We have a very excellent Charge who is doing most of the on-the-ground contact work, but our Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasia, Karen Donfried, has been meeting with Belarussians, as has her deputy Robin Dunnigan at regular intervals to test whether there might be any openings there,” Victoria Nuland, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, said in response to a question during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.

“I would not say that we've had manifest success. But (we’re) also working intensively with the Belarusian opposition and Madame (Sviatlana) Tsikhanouskaya and the secretary has seen her regularly,” she added.

Nuland said they continue to work on the issue, adding: “I hope we'll have somebody to talk to you about in the not too distant future.”

The US suspended operations at its embassy in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, shortly after the Russian war in Ukraine began on Feb. 24 last year.

Former US Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher departed her role last June.

Kaynak:

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