MINSK. Sept 17 (Interfax) - Washington and Minsk have decided to reinstate their diplomatic missions at the ambassadorial level, the Belarusian state news agency BelTA said on Tuesday, referring to United States Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale as saying at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"I would like to convey greetings from the secretary of state who's asked me to come here in order to be present at an important historical moment of our bilateral relations. After our meeting we will make a statement that we are going to exchange ambassadors after so many years without them," BelTA quoted Hale as saying.
"We agree with you that the state of affairs is unnatural, abnormal. We are glad that this chapter is nearly over. We are closing this chapter due to the steps your country and you personally have made," Hale said.
"We would also like to note the vision you've accepted - greater diversity in internal affairs and in relations with the outside world. We strongly support this vision and will do our best to help you on the way," he said.
Hale said his country is doing this "not for the sake of competing with some other country but for the sake of fully realizing the potential of bilateral relations."
Hale underscored the U.S. interest in the preservation of Belarus's sovereignty. "We highly value this region and we are very attentive to security threats. And also because we strongly support Belarus' sovereignty and independence," he said.
It had been reported earlier that, following a diplomatic spat in 2008, Minsk and Washington recalled their ambassadors and cut the staffs of their diplomatic missions. The leadership of the two countries' diplomatic missions was later lowered from the ambassadorial level to the level of charge d'affaires ad interim.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced in January 2019 that Minsk had lifted the restriction on the number of U.S. diplomats present in the country.
In June 2006, the U.S. imposed sanctions on a number of Belarusian companies over human rights violations in the country and has extended them several times since then. The sanction list includes the Belarusian Oil Trade House, the company Belneftekhim, including its branch in the U.S. (Belneftekhim USA Inc.), and also a number of oil refineries and petrochemical companies.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury decided on October 29, 2015 to partially ease the sanctions for half a year (until April 30, 2016), allowing transactions with the companies. Since then, this decision has been extended every six months.
The current decision waiving the sanctions will expire on October 25.
Lukashenko met with then U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton on August 29 and declared Belarus's willingness to start relations with the U.S. "with a fresh page." He described Bolton's visit as historic.