Kellogg says US deals with Belarus to keep communication lines with Putin
Photo: Keith Kellogg (Getty Images)
US talks with Belarus were primarily intended to secure communication lines with Russian president Vladimir Putin, reports The Guardian.
The US focuses on Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko because he talks to Putin a lot. "We’re not sure what he says, but we know that he talks to him,” he said.
Kellogg also emphasized that the US reestablished relations with Belarus to ensure open lines of communication.
“We established a relationship to ensure the lines of communication were open so we could make sure all of our messaging was being passed to President Putin. That was the reason we did it; we weren’t going in there initially to get political prisoners out,” he said.
Kellogg stressed that the success in releasing some political prisoners was a positive aspect, but the overall goal was not the release of political prisoners, but finding the best way to resolve the war between Ukraine and Russia.
Background
Earlier, it became known that the US is lifting sanctions on the airline Belavia. The return of the US embassy to Belarus is also being considered.
Before Putin met with US President Donald Trump, the latter had a “great talk” with Alexander Lukashenko by phone. They discussed the release of political prisoners.
On June 21, with US assistance, the Belarusian regime released a number of Belarusian opposition figures, including Sergei Tikhanovsky.
