The head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Makei said that “Ambassador-designate Julie Fischer visited several European countries and met with representatives of those countries, as well as representatives of the Belarusian opposition
To Belarus, one-sided approach of U.S. Ambassador Julie Fischer to get information about the processes in the country is incomprehensible. Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei told reporters on Friday, answering a question from TASS.
“We noticed that Ambassador-designate Julie Fischer visited several European countries and met with representatives of these countries as well as representatives of the Belarusian opposition”, – Makei said.
“On the one hand, it is understandable: there is a desire to get more information before her arrival in Belarus about the events and processes taking place in and around Belarus. On the other hand, the one-sided focus on getting the information is incomprehensible”, – added the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, specifying that the American diplomat had meetings with the Charge d’Affaires of Belarus to the USA. – “We are in contact with the U.S. embassy in Minsk. But if the appointed ambassador [of the United States] is going to present to the State Department her vision of the development of relations between Belarus and the United States only on the basis of the information she received in Vilnius, Warsaw and Stockholm, I believe it will be a one-sided vision and one-sided interpretation”, – explained Makei.
“Regarding the arrival of Ms Fischer in Belarus, we believe that if the ambassador-designate intends to come to Belarus, we would like to see her as a full plenipotentiary ambassador. But if she has any prejudices with regard to presenting credentials, we should think it over”, – stated the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Makei stressed that Belarus is interested in developing relations with the United States.
“The last few years show that it is beneficial for both states. We have begun to work in the energy sector, which has already been fruitful. We are determined to have a constructive dialogue with the United States”, – concluded the head of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
The State Department has not reported yet whether the U.S. ambassador to Minsk, Julie Fischer, is going to visit Belarus. Last week the US embassy in Belarus informed about a meeting between Fischer and ex-presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The report did not specify where the meeting took place, but the day before Fischer met with Belarusian opposition activist Pavel Latushko in Warsaw.