Belarus has intensified efforts to lift US sanctions and diversify foreign policy

The Belarusian Oil Company has hired U.S. lobbyist David Gencarelli to purchase American crude oil and later to lobby the lifting of US sanctions against Belarus.

Currently, sanctions against some Belarusian enterprises (including Belneftekhim) have been suspended, however, doing business with American companies requires a special permission from the US government in each case, which is a serious complication. This issue has been repeatedly raised during official bilateral negotiations.

Minsk is expanding instruments used in the normalization process with the West. The purchase of American crude oil by Belarus would be an important symbolic step, aimed to demonstrate the existence of geopolitical alternatives in the case Russia stepped up political and economic pressure.