Mike Pompeo said that the US was ready to provide all of Belarus’s oil needs, as he became the first American secretary of state to visit the former Soviet state in more than a quarter of a century. Mr Pompeo’s visit comes amid heightened tension between Belarus and its traditional ally, Russia, which has been pushing its reluctant neighbour to accept deeper integration, and temporarily cut oil supplies last month. Mr Pompeo, who is also due to visit Kazakhstan during his trip, said that the US wanted to help Belarus “build its own sovereign country” and, in a dig at Russia, said that it could meet Belarus’s entire oil demand “at competitive
“We’re the biggest energy producer in the world, and all you have to do is call us,” he said at a press conference with Belarus’s foreign minister, Vladimir Makei. US relations with Belarus have traditionally been frigid, and the US imposed sanctions on strongman Aleksander Lukashenko’s regime in 2008 over human rights abuses.
In recent months, however, as Russian president Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the pressure on Minsk, Belarus has made tentative overtures to the west, easing visa restrictions for EU citizens, as well as warming relations with the US. Last month, it started importing gas from Norway as an alternative to Russian supplies.
The US and Belarus said in September that they would exchange ambassadors for the first time in 12 years, and Mr Pompeo said on Saturday that he hoped this would happen soon.
“It’s something that we’ve made a lot of progress on and I think we can, if everything proceeds apace, have an ambassador here before too terribly long. I think it’d be a great thing for us,” he said, noting that the US had recently doubled its diplomatic staff in the country.