The candidacy of the diplomat Julie Fisher on Tuesday, December 15, was unanimously approved by the US Senate for the post of the new ambassador to Belarus. The meeting was broadcast on the website of the upper house of the American legislature.
Earlier, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Riker noted the importance for the presidential administration of the Senate’s approval of Fischer’s candidacy for the post of new ambassador to Minsk. According to him, the United States should continue to contact the republic.
In mid-September, First Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Bigan announced that the United States did not plan to refuse to send its new ambassador to Belarus, despite the current harsh criticism from Washington regarding Minsk and the demand for new elections in the republic.
On May 4, US President Donald Trump submitted to the Senate the candidacy of Assistant Under Secretary of State Julie Fisher for approval as ambassador to Belarus.
Fischer will become the first ambassador to the Republic of Belarus since 2008, when Washington and Minsk mutually recalled ambassadors. At the moment, the embassies of the countries are headed by attorneys at law.
On February 1, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk that the US would soon appoint an ambassador to Belarus after more than 10 years of his absence.
In 2008, Belarus recalled Mikhail Khvostov, who at that time was the ambassador to the United States, from Washington amid the imposition of sanctions by the American side against Belarusian companies. Following this, the head of the American diplomatic mission, Karen Stewart, returned to the United States. Since then, the diplomatic missions have been headed by chargé d’affaires of the United States. Since August 2018, Jennifer Moore has held this post. In October 2019, the diplomat said that the American ambassador, at best, would arrive in Minsk no earlier than spring 2020.