By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -A senior Belarusian diplomat has held meetings with Europeans after his country sent out invitations last month, in what European diplomats called an overture to reduce Minsk’s isolation after a thaw with Washington under Donald Trump.
Senior officials from Belarus have largely been persona non grata in the EU since Europe imposed sanctions in the wake of a sweeping crackdown on opposition protests following a disputed election in 2020. Sanctions have been tightened repeatedly since Minsk backed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But at least one European diplomat said he had had a recent meeting with Yuri Ambrazevich, a former deputy foreign minister of Belarus, posted in March to Rome as Minsk’s ambassador to the Vatican and tasked with reaching out to European countries.
DIPLOMAT ‘INFORMALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR COORDINATING CONTACTS’
Ambrazevich sought to pass on a message that Belarus was seeking to break its political isolation, and could play roles in finding a negotiated solution between Russia and Ukraine and in future talks on European security, the diplomat said.
The Belarusian embassy in Paris, where Ambrazevich is also accredited as envoy to the U.N. cultural body UNESCO, sent an emailed invitation at the end of September to a number of European countries’ missions inviting diplomats to meet him.
The email, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, said Ambrazevich was
Exclusive-Belarus Makes Overture to EU Countries After Rapprochement With US
