US Assistant Secretary of State on official visit to Minsk

US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wes Mitchell today arrived with an official visit to Minsk, reports the press office of US Embassy in Minsk on its official Facebook page.

At the beginning of his visit, he laid white and red roses [the colors of the Belarusian national white-red-white flag] to the monument of Belarusian classical poet Yanka Kupala. During the ceremony, Mr Mitchell said he was paying tribute to Kupala's vision of Belarusians as a sovereign and independent state, reports TUT.by

This has been Mr Mitchell's first visit to Belarus where he met with high-ranking Belarusian officials to discuss bilateral cooperation in a number of global issues.

Last week, Wes Mitchell spoke at an Atlantic Council event where he said that the United States was facing a challenge of "strengthening the West to counteract the growing influence of rivals." He also described Belarus among other East European countries as "a bulwark against Russian neo-imperialism."