WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) The United States is planning to appoint a special envoy for Belarus to engage with senior officials of the Belarusian opposition, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
"We are very actively looking at moving forward with a special envoy. What I am considering right now, is having a very senior official in our European Affairs Bureau to also service the envoy to be able to then go in and out, engage at senior levels with the opposition," Blinken told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Belarus affairs unit that is based in Lithuania does at present the day in and day of out engagement, he added.
The State Department announced earlier this year that it was seeking an appropriate candidate for the position of special envoy to Belarus.
In August 2020, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was reelected for a sixth consecutive term in office. However, the country's opposition accused Lukashenko of rigging the election and started nationwide protests. Opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya fled to Lithuania.
