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US presidential envoy plans to meet with Belarusian president soon — agency

According to Reuters, Keith Kellogg would be the highest-ranking US official to visit Belarus in years

WASHINGTON, June 18. /TASS/. US Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg plans to visit Minsk in the near future to meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Reuters reports, citing sources.

According to the news agency, Kellogg would be the highest-ranking US official to visit Belarus in years.

The agenda of the meeting is unclear, "though Kellogg in private has portrayed the trip as a step that could help jump-start peace talks aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine," Reuters notes, citing two sources.

The US Department of State and the Belarusian embassy in Washington declined to comment; Kellogg and the White House did not respond to requests for comment, the media outlet adds.

The news agency explains that "planning for such trips requires careful negotiation, and it is possible the trip could be canceled or modified at the last moment." A US official told Reuters the US authorities had discussed ways to pull Minsk out of Moscow's sphere of influence and toward Washington's orbit, if only marginally.

Mike Pompeo, who served as US Secretary of State during Donald Trump’s first presidential term, visited Belarus in 2020.

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United States Belarus

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