Natalia Petkevich meets David Kramer in a Minsk cafe
The meeting of the deputy head of Alexander Lukashenka's administration and the deputy assistance secretary of the U.S. Department of State has been initiated by the Belarusian side. The meeting was informal and took place at the Freski cafe in Minsk, the European Radio for Belarus has learned. In respond to the question from the European Radio for Belarus whether similar initiatives had come out from the Belarusian government before, Kramer said very clearly: no similar interest had been expressed by Belarus previously. Responding to the question whether the meeting could be interpreted as a good sign, the deputy assistance secretary of state said that he was not ready to draw any conclusions until Belarus displayed concrete moves.
He said he took this opportunity of meeting with Petkevich in order to give a U.S. message to Alexander Lukashenka through the shortest way. According to Kramer, his message is transparent. There are only two ways to improve the relations between Belarus and the United States. Firstly, Belarus government needs to make concrete moves: to release all the political prisoners (he stressed "all"); to drop all new charges and to allow the tomorrow's peaceful street rally.
If these conditions are not met, relations between the two countries would soon deteriorate further, Kramer noted. The Belarus Democracy Act provides for expansion of the list of banned officials and for introduction of economic sanctions against the state-owned businesses and enterprises.
Apart from Petkevich, Kramer had a meeting with Belarus foreign minister Siargei Martynau. He also met with the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, the families of political prisoners, journalists from the non-state media.
Talking to reporters at the end of the meeting, Krame stressed that taking into account the low level of U.S. engagement with Belarus, the United State had enough space where to move. The decision on which direction this movement is going to take will be made in the near future and only after concrete steps are made by the Belarusian authorities.
He said he took this opportunity of meeting with Petkevich in order to give a U.S. message to Alexander Lukashenka through the shortest way. According to Kramer, his message is transparent. There are only two ways to improve the relations between Belarus and the United States. Firstly, Belarus government needs to make concrete moves: to release all the political prisoners (he stressed "all"); to drop all new charges and to allow the tomorrow's peaceful street rally.
If these conditions are not met, relations between the two countries would soon deteriorate further, Kramer noted. The Belarus Democracy Act provides for expansion of the list of banned officials and for introduction of economic sanctions against the state-owned businesses and enterprises.
Apart from Petkevich, Kramer had a meeting with Belarus foreign minister Siargei Martynau. He also met with the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, the families of political prisoners, journalists from the non-state media.
Talking to reporters at the end of the meeting, Krame stressed that taking into account the low level of U.S. engagement with Belarus, the United State had enough space where to move. The decision on which direction this movement is going to take will be made in the near future and only after concrete steps are made by the Belarusian authorities.
