Assistant Secretary of State to meet with Lukashenko

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Gordon will travel to Belarus tomorrow where he will have a rare meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko’s government expelled U.S. diplomats last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Belarus. The meeting comes amid signs of a warming in ties between the West and ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Gordon will travel to Belarus tomorrow where he will have a rare meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko's government expelled U.S. diplomats last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Belarus.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Philip Gordon will travel to Belarus tomorrow where he will have a rare meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Lukashenko’s government expelled U.S. diplomats last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Belarus.

The meeting comes amid signs of a warming in ties between the West and Lukashenko’s Belarus, which was dubbed "Europe’s last dictatorship" by the previous US administration of president George W. Bush.

It’s a big week for talking to dictators. Senator Jim Webb is also planning a (presumably White House sanctioned) meeting with Burma’s General Than Shwe.

Hat tip: The New Republic’s Michael Crowley

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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