Trump envoy may discuss Ukraine peace, political prisoners in Minsk
June 18, Pozirk. Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, may visit Belarus to meet Alaksandar Łukašenka in the coming days, Reuters reported, citing four sources.
The agenda is unclear, although Kellogg reportedly believes that the trip could help relaunch peace talks between Ukraine and Russia that remain stalled.
Belarus has been an integral part of Russia’s war against Ukraine since its start in 2022 and cannot be ignored, as underestimating the importance of the country located in the geographical center of Europe harms regional security, commented Valeryj Kavaleŭski of the Euro-Atlantic Affairs Agency think tank.
A peace settlement can be sustainable only if Russia “loses control over Belarus,” he stressed.
The Kremlin should not be able to use Belarus “for new military actions against Ukraine or other European neighbors,” he added.
Kavaleŭski suggested that Kellogg may also discuss the release of political prisoners, ending reprisals in Belarus and the migration crisis at the European Union’s eastern borders and resuming operations of the US embassy in Minsk.
The trip may still be cancelled or modified as high-level visits require careful preparations, Reuters reported. Washington and the Belarusian embassy in the US have not yet commented.
During Trump’s first term, the US sought to improve diplomatic relations with Minsk, but those efforts were put on hold after Łukašenka declared himself the winner of the 2020 election.
In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine in which the Belarusian authorities supported the Kremlin, allowing Russian troops to attack Ukraine from Belarus on multiple occasions and supplying arms to Moscow.
