Minsk demanded to close offices of USAID agency in Belarus | Major political events in Belarus: assessments, forecasts, comments

The Belarusian authorities demanded to close the offices of the public relations department of the American embassy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), including the American Center in Minsk. This is stated in the statement of the US Special Representative for Belarus Julie Fisher, posted on the website of the embassy in Minsk on Friday, October 29. “The Belarusian authorities are forcing the embassy to fire more than 20 Belarusian employees,” the document says.

According to the statement, the new restrictive measures of the Belarusian authorities reflect their “deep insecurity in the field of diplomacy, international relations and an independent civil society.” Minsk’s demand will not force the United States to “abandon its obligations to promote democracy and human rights in Belarus” and “from actions that benefit the Belarusian people and promote communication between our citizens,” Fischer said.

USAID has been supporting Belarus since the 90s

The US Special Representative for Belarus also recalled that since the 1990s, USAID programs have brought considerable benefits to the people of the country. They aimed to support entrepreneurship and the expansion of small and medium-sized private enterprises, creating new high-paying jobs and improving living standards in a country dominated by a “stagnant public sector”.

The agency, according to Fischer, provided assistance in the fight against coronavirus infection at a time when the Belarusian authorities “ignored the pandemic and its impact on the health and well-being of the Belarusian people.” It also provided targeted funding to support families living in Belarusian areas affected by the Chernobyl disaster.

Diplomatic confrontation between Minsk and Washington

On August 11, 2021, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, in response to the economic sanctions imposed by Washington, offered the United States to reduce the number of its embassy in Minsk to 5 people by September 1. In addition, the Foreign Ministry revoked its earlier consent to the appointment of Julie Fisher as the US Ambassador to Belarus.

After a diplomatic scandal in 2008 and the recall of ambassadors on a reciprocal basis, US-Belarusian relations were almost completely frozen. In December 2020, the US State Department approved Julie Fisher as ambassador to Belarus, but she never arrived in Minsk. In turn, in early September, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said that Minsk had decided on the candidacy for the post of ambassador to the United States, but saw no reason to send him in the current conditions.

On October 21, at the request of the US authorities, the Consulate General of Belarus in New York closed down.

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Peaceful protest posters
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Belarusian protest – in the art of poster
Opposition graphic symbols
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Belarusian protest – in the art of poster
Memes about “three percent”
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Belarusian protest – in the art of poster
Instead of wings – Belarusian prison bars
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Belarusian protest – in the art of poster
Trampling on human rights
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The colors of protest
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Belarusian protest – in the art of poster
Belarusian nightmare – paddy wagon
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Peaceful dialogue with the security official
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Author: Raina Breuer, Janina Moroz