France’s new chargé d’affaires arrives in Minsk
Lise Talbot Barré
October 1, Pozirk. The French embassy announced on October 1 that Lise Talbot Barré, the new chargé d’affaires of France in Belarus, has arrived in Minsk.
Between 2011 and 2014, Talbot Barré served as cooperation and cultural affairs advisor and deputy head of the French embassy in Minsk.
“I am glad to return to Belarus after 12 years, now as the head of the French mission in Belarus,” Talbot Barré says in a video on the embassy’s Facebook page. “Belarus lives in my heart, and I am happy to meet with friends and partners here again. I look forward to seeing you. I am confident that together we can develop relations between France and Belarus, strengthen our cooperation and the friendship between the Belarusian and French peoples.”
The video closes with the diplomat thanking her viewers in Belarusian.
Lise Talbot Barré held a range of posts in the French foreign ministry between 2003 and 2020 and served with her country’s embassies in Canada, India, and, mostly recently, Thailand.
Her predecessor Ludovic Royer noted during a reception at the French embassy in Minsk on July 14 on the occasion of France’s National Day that he was leaving Belarus “with a deep feeling of incompleteness.” “The task that needs to be accomplished to get our relations out of the deadlock is simply superhuman,” he was quoted as saying by the embassy. “I remain optimistic and want to believe that the restoration of our relations will happen thanks to the people and for the people.”
In August, the French embassy closed its media library, which had operated at the Pushkin Library in Minsk for 30 years. The embassy described the media library as a “quite usual project” that “nevertheless generated enough fear to be terminated.”
The European Union’s member states downgraded their diplomatic presence in Belarus to charge d’affaires following the 2020 presidential election, refusing to recognize Alaksandar Łukašenka as its winner and a legitimate president. Belarus has officially designated France an unfriendly state.
During his phone call with Emmanuel Macron and the French president’s envoy, Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s Directorate-General for External Security, this past May, the Belarusian ruler reportedly sought relief from EU sanctions.
