Former Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus, Ihor Kizim, has been appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belarus. The diplomat reported this on his own Facebook page on February 2nd.
Although leaders of the Belarusian Democratic Movement in exile have welcomed the move, Kiev authorities have made no effort to publicize it.
The Kyiv Post has previously noted that Ukraine’s leadership is mysteriously distancing itself from Belarusian democratic forces opposed to Minsk’s autocrat, Russian vassal Alexander Lukashenko.
The latter rigged the Belarusian presidential election in August 2020 and imprisoned nearly 2,000 political opponents who supported democracy, national sovereignty, and European self-identification.
Kijim writes: “Recently, a number of messages were published on media networks regarding my new appointment related to relations with the Belarusian Democratic Forces. I would like to clarify this matter. By the decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I am appointed Appointed Ambassador Plenipotentiary. At the moment, it is clear that all issues related to Belarus have a “special” character. ”
The diplomat did not explain what he meant by “special”, and therefore, almost two years have passed since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, during which time Belarus has been used as a staging area for the Kremlin’s military incursions into the south. has not shed any light on Kiev’s official position towards Minsk.
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Kizim said that his task “includes, among other things, issues related to the democratic forces of Belarus as a part of Belarusian society that has opposed the policies of the current leadership of Belarus, especially its support for Russia’s aggression against Russia.” ”, he explains in very careful detail. Ukraine. ”
The former ambassador was dismissed from his post in Minsk by Zelenskiy’s government in June 2022, amid escalating tensions between Kiev and Minsk. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian side does not appear to have formally severed diplomatic relations with the Lukashenko regime, which serves as a staunch ally of Russia.
Belarus’ democratic opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is widely believed to have lost the country’s last presidential election and is usually treated as Belarus’ next president in the West, announced on February 3 that she would be the next president of Belarus. I wrote the following on the X site:
“I congratulate Mr. Ihor Kizim on his appointment as Grand Ambassador to Belarus in charge of relations with the democratic forces of our country. This is an important and timely decision by FM Dmytro Kuleba. We look forward to working together at this critical moment for both countries.”
Strangely, neither Kuleba nor his ministry appear to have formally announced Kizim’s appointment. There is no mention of this on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It is also strange that the foreign minister, rather than Ukraine’s president, is said to have taken this step, and Belarus’ democratic opposition wants to interpret this as Kiev officials finally reaching out.
Tsikhanouskaya and her colleagues in the Belarusian Unified Transitional Cabinet, the de facto Belarusian democratic government in exile, strongly support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression and want a democratic Belarus to be integrated with Ukraine into the European Union. I’m here.
The Kyiv Post also reported on Belarusian volunteer forces fighting on the side of Ukraine against the Russian invaders.
Inexplicably, the Ukrainian leadership has had to clarify its official position on Belarus, and appears to be the last Western government to do so.