Overview

• Kellogg would be the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Belarus in years when he meets President Alexander Lukashenko in the coming days.
• The precise agenda remains unclear, but Kellogg privately frames the engagement as a step toward reviving negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• The visit follows February trips by State Department envoys who secured the release of an American citizen and other political prisoners in Belarus.
• Washington suspended embassy operations in Minsk in 2022 after Belarus aligned itself with Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Some Western diplomats express skepticism about Minsk’s willingness to break from Russia despite U.S. diplomatic overtures.