The United States and Belarus have decided to announce the mutual return of ambassadors, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale said as he met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday.
Hale said that the “exchange of ambassadors” would mark a “historic” restoration of ties, according to Belarus’s state-run Belta news agency.
The United States withdrew its ambassador from Minsk in 2008 in a row over sanctions on a number of individuals and organizations in Belarus on charges of “violating human rights” and “undermining democratic institutions.”
Relations between Minsk and Washington deteriorated after that, and Belarus has not had a U.S. ambassador since then.
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