2010 Programs and Events
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Visits Belarus
Daniel Russell
On November 17, 2010, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russell visited Minsk as part of a visit to the region to meet with government officials, presidential candidates and civil society leaders on the eve of the presidential elections in Belarus. In his discussions and in the resulting press statement, Mr. Russell outlined the U.S. Government policy of principled engagement with Belarus and noted that the United States supports “a democratic, fair and transparent election process.” Regarding existing financial sanctions and the travel restrictions, he said there had been no progress on the democracy and human rights issues which led the United States to impose sanction and called for concrete progress on democracy and human rights.