Foreign Policy Accent. Supplement to BISS Belarus’ Foreign Policy Index №22, September-October 2014

Over the last two years, we have witnessed a marked increase in the number of contacts between Belarus and the United States, some of them being truly unprecedented against the modest backdrop of the bilateral relationship. An obvious reason for the intensified contacts would be the standard electoral cycle, when the Belarusian authorities traditionally take steps to ‘secure the home front’ in the run-up to a presidential election and seek to improve their relationships with both Russia and the West. However, the event analysis shows that the United States seems to reciprocate Belarus’ efforts this time. It appears that the attempt to ‘unfreeze’ the relations with Washington is based upon a firmer ground of mutual concern and the process is unfolding amid crucial geopolitical changes in the region, which affect Belarus as well. Under certain conditions, all of this can contribute to the restoration of a full diplomatic relationship between Belarus and the United States.