A European diplomat told Reuters that he recently met with Yuri Ambrazevich, a former deputy foreign minister of Belarus, who was appointed as Minsk's ambassador to the Vatican in March. According to him, Ambrazevich has been tasked with establishing contacts with European countries and conveying that Belarus is trying to emerge from political isolation and can play a certain role in finding a negotiated solution between Russia and Ukraine.
The Belarusian embassy in Paris, where Ambrazevich is also accredited as an ambassador to the UN cultural organization UNESCO, sent an email invitation to several European country representatives at the end of September with a proposal for a meeting.
The email, seen by the agency, stated that Ambrazevich is "currently informally responsible for coordinating Belarus's diplomatic contacts in the capitals of Western European countries." The Belarusian embassy called this "standard diplomatic practice."
Three European diplomats confirmed that their countries received invitations, stating that some countries agreed to meet with Ambrazevich.
Alexander Lukashenko has been isolated for many years due to Western sanctions. But since Trump took office and reached out to Moscow, Washington has stepped up engagement with Belarus, sending several delegations to Minsk this year. American officials say the Trump administration hopes to pull Belarus out of Moscow's geopolitical orbit.
Europe imposed sanctions in response to mass repression following the rigged elections in 2020. Sanctions were repeatedly tightened after Minsk supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"I think they feel that with Trump's arrival, a window of opportunity has opened for lifting sanctions, and so they are taking advantage of it," said one of the diplomats.
However, according to one of the agency's interlocutors, the US will not succeed in distancing Belarus from Russia, as Minsk and Moscow conducted joint military exercises in September, and Lukashenko proposed building a nuclear power plant in eastern Belarus that could supply electricity to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Moreover, after several opponents of Lukashenko were released in exchange for lifting sanctions on "Belavia," even more people were arrested for political reasons.
Photo: Reuters