Interstate relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

between the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

began in 1991 upon the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, of which Belarus had been a part. However, the relations have turned negative due to accusations by the United States that Belarus has been violating human rights. Belarus, in turn, has accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs. In 2008, Belarus recalled its ambassador from Washington and insisted that the Ambassador of the United States must leave Minsk. According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, only 20% of

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

approve of U.S. leadership, with 30% disapproving and 50% uncertain, the fourth-lowest rating for any surveyed country in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

1991 through 2000

On 25 December 1991, the United States recognized the independence of the Republic of Belarus, and on 28 December, Belarus and the United States established diplomatic relations. On 31 January 1992, the U.S. Embassy was officially opened in Minsk. In 1993, the embassy of Belarus was opened in Washington.

Prime Minister of Belarus The prime minister of the Republic of Belarus (; ) is the head of government of Belarus. Until 1991, it was known as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as the head of the government of the cons ...

Vyacheslav Kebich received visiting U.S. Secretary of State

Warren Christopher Warren Minor Christopher (October 27, 1925March 18, 2011) was an American attorney, diplomat and statesman who served as the 63rd United States secretary of state from 1993 to 1997. Born in Scranton, North Dakota, Christopher clerked for Supre ...

on 26 October 1993, promising new presidential elections. On 15 January 1994, U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

visited Minsk on a 6-hour

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

, following a recent visit to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

and acting as a preceding a visit to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It was considered to be a "thank you" visit after Belarus agreed to transfer their Soviet nuclear stockpile to Russia. He was received by Chairman

Stanislav Shushkevich Stanislav Stanislavovich Shushkevich (15 December 1934 – 3 May 2022) was a Belarusian politician and scientist who served as the first head of state of independent Belarus after it seceded from the Soviet Union, serving as the first chairman ...

Minsk National Airport Minsk National Airport (, ; ) , formerly known as Minsk-2, is the main international airport in Belarus, located 42 km (26 mi) to the east of the capital Minsk. It geographically lies in the territory of Smalyavichy Raion but is admin ...

, after which Clinton laid a wreath on Victory Square and met with youth in the Academy of Sciences, as well as visited

Kurapaty Kurapaty (, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, where a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD and in particular, during the Soviet repressions i ...

(wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk where a vast number of people were executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

). Clinton, as well as First Lady

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and their daughter Chelsea, also met children suffering from illnesses during a visit to Pediatric Hospital No. 4. The

has encouraged Belarus to conclude and adhere to agreements with the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

(IMF) on the program of macroeconomic stabilization and related reform measures, as well as to undertake increased privatization and to create a favorable climate for business and investment. Although there has been some American direct private investment in Belarus, its development has been relatively slow given the uncertain pace of reform. An Overseas Private Investment Corporation agreement was signed in June 1992 but has been suspended since 1995 because Belarus did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement. Belarus is eligible for Export-Import Bank short-term financing

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

for U.S. investments, but because of the adverse business climate, no projects have been initiated.

2001 through 2004

In early September 2001, the

condemned Belarus for having irregularities in the recent election, causing

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (also transliterated as Alyaksandr Ryhoravich Lukashenka; born 30 August 1954) is a Belarusian politician who has been the first and only president of Belarus since the office's establishment in 1994, making hi ...

to be re-elected. However, this criticism was short lived, as the United States came under the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

two days later. During

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

, several American intelligence agencies accused Belarus of providing a safe haven for the deposed leader,

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

, and his sons,

Uday Uday or Odai is a masculine name in Arabic as well as several Indian languages. In numerous Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil and others, it means 'dawn' or 'rise'. The Arabic name () means 'runner' or 'rising'. List of ...

and Qusay. The only evidence that was presented was a cargo flight from the Iraqi capital of

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

to the Belarusian capital of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, documentation of which was found after the capture of the Baghdad airport in April 2003. While some sources said that Lukashenko was close to Saddam and Saddam had thought about leaving Iraq to go to Belarus, Saddam was found in Iraq in December 2003 and his sons were killed in Iraq a few months earlier. Belarus-U.S. relations were further strained after

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

unanimously passed the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004, which the Belarusian government believes interferes with Belarusian internal affairs.

2006 through 2019

Following the

2006 Belarusian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 19 March 2006. The result was a victory for incumbent, President Alexander Lukashenko, who received 84.4% of the vote. However, Western world, Western observers deemed the elections rigged. The Organ ...

, US introduced sanctions against Belarus individuals and companies for "the actions and policies... to undermine Belarus' democratic processes or institutions, manifested most recently in the fundamentally undemocratic March 2006 elections, to commit human rights abuses related to political repression, including detentions and disappearances, and to engage in public corruption including by diverting or misusing Belarusian public assets or by misusing public authority." The assets of said persons and companies in the US are frozen and transactions with them are prohibited. The sanctions list, as of January 2017, contains the following persons: * President

* his son and national security assistant

Viktor Lukashenko Viktor Aleksandrovich Lukashenko or Viktar Alyaksandravch Lukashenka (born 28 November 1975) is a Belarusian politician and the eldest son of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. He currently serves as the president of the Belarus Olympi ...

* former Justice Minister Viktar Halavanau * former deputy Justice Minister Oleg Slizhevsky * former head of

Belteleradio The National State TV and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (; ), known as Belteleradiocompany (; ) or simply Belteleradio, is the state television and radio broadcasting service in Belarus. From 1993 until 2021, it was a full active memb ...

Aliaksandr Zimouski * former director of the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

Stepan Sukhorenko * former Prosecutor General Petr Miklashevich, *

Dmitri Pavlichenko Dmitri Valeriyevich Pavlichenko (, ; alternative spellings: ''Dmitry, Dzmitry, Dzmitri, Vasilyevich, Pavliuchenko, Pawliuchenka''; born 1966 in Vitebsk) is head of the Belarusian Special Rapid Reaction Unit (SOBR). Allegations of assassinations I ...

* Viktor Sheiman * Lidia Yermoshina * Natalia Petkevich *

Uladzimir Navumau Uladzimir Navumau (, , Vladimir Naumov, also ''Uladzimir Naumau''; born 7 February 1956) is a Belarusian politician accused of human rights violations. He was Minister of the Internal Affairs of Belarus (2000-2009) and chairman of Belarus Ice ...

OMON OMON is a system of military special police units within the Armed Forces of Russia. It previously operated within the structures of the Soviet and Russian Ministries of Internal Affairs (MVD). Originating as the special forces unit of the So ...

commander Yury Podobed *

Alexander Radkov Alexander Mikhailovich Radkov (, born 1 July 1951) is a Belarusian politician. A former Minister of Education and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, he is currently leader of the Belaya Rus party. Biography Radkov attended Mogilev ...

* Vladimir Rusakevich * Yury Sivakov The list of the companies sanctioned includes

Belshina Belshina (, ) is a tire, tyre manufacturer in Belarus. The name is an abbreviation for "Belaruskaya shina", or "Belarusian Tyre". The Belarusian tyre works is located in the Belarusian industrial city Babruysk. Belshina produces over 180 tyre s ...

, Belneftekhim, Polotsk-Steklovolokno, Grodno Azot, Naftan and others. One of the few bilateral events during this period in relations was the visit to Minsk by the

United States Air Forces in Europe Band The 686th Air Force Band, known also as the United States Air Forces in Europe Band (USAFE Band) is composed of 45 active duty Air Force musicians who serve under the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa Command and work as mus ...

in May 2015, where they performed at the

Brest Fortress Brest Fortress (; ; ; ), formerly known as Brest-Litovsk Fortress, is a 19th-century fortress in Brest, Belarus. In 1965, the title Hero Fortress was given to the fortress to commemorate the defence of the frontier stronghold during the fi ...

and the

2015 Minsk Victory Day Parade The annual Victory Day Parade (; ) on Victors Avenue in Minsk (the capital of Belarus) is a traditional military parade of the Armed Forces of Belarus that takes place every 5 years on 9 May in honor of the jubilee anniversary of the end of the ...

in honor of the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism.

2019 to present

On August 29, 2019, National Security Adviser

John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican Party (United States), Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to ...

met with Lukashenko in Minsk to discuss improving relations between the two countries. On 1 February 2020, U.S. Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American retired politician who served in the First presidency of Donald Trump#Administration, first administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) fr ...

visited Belarus for the first time in 26 years, to offer American aid after Russian decision to cut off energy supplies. In July 2020, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Oleg Kravchenko was appointed Belarusian Ambassador to the United States. In August 2020, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said security forces had arrested "a number of" U.S. citizens, just days before the country went to the polls for a

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

. In the speech, Lukashenko claimed Belarus was the victim of a "hybrid war", and that "we should expect dirty tricks from any side". In the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential elections, Secretary Pompeo voiced his deep concerns about how the election was "Not free and fair". In addition, he urged the Belarusian security forces to respect their citizens right to peacefully assemble, refrain from using force, and release persons who were wrongfully detained. In May 2021 the

and other countries denounced Belarus' authorities forcing

Ryanair Flight 4978 Ryanair Flight 4978 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Athens International Airport, Greece, to Vilnius Airport, Lithuania, operated by Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz, a Polish subsidiary of the Irish airline Ryanair. On 23 May ...

to land in Belarus' territory. On 28 February 2022, the United States suspended its embassy in Belarus following intelligence from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

that the country was preparing to join with its ally

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in invading Ukraine.

Trade

Belarus — United States trade volume (million USD, according to Belstat): Largest export positions of Belarus (2017, according to Belstat): * Potash fertilizers (135 million USD) * Seamless pipes, tubes and profiles (25.8 million USD) * X-ray equipment (12.2 million USD) * Furniture (6.9 million USD) Largest export positions of USA (2017, according to Belstat): * Medical equipment (30.1 million USD) * Cars (27.3 million USD) * Vaccines, serums (20.2 million USD) * Combustion piston engines (17 million USD) * Frozen fish (14.3 million USD) * Car bodies (13.4 million USD) * Electric engines and generators (10.6 million USD)

Diplomatic missions

The Embassy of Belarus in Washington, D.C. is located at 1619 New Hampshire Avenue,

Northwest, Washington, D.C. Northwest (NW or N.W.) is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city (NW, NE, S ...

, in the

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...

neighborhood. The embassy also operates a

Consulate-General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The Chargé d'Affaires ad interim is Pavel Shidlovsky.

References

External links

History of Belarus - U.S. relations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belarus-United States relations

Bilateral relations of the United States