The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed to the media on the 16th that two officers of the U.S. Embassy in Belarus were invited to attend the joint strategic exercise of the Belarusian and Russian armed forces "West-2025" in Belarus.
According to U.S. Starbucks website quoting Defense Ministry spokesman Sean Panel, the invitation of U.S. military officers was part of Belarus's "Viventine Day" event in joint military exercises, and the Pentagon "in view of recent productive bilateral contacts between the two countries" accepted the invitation.
Russian and Belarusian joint military exercises were held from September 12 to 16, and the Belarusian Defense Ministry released a video on September 15 showing two U.S. Air Force officers watching the exercise on the ground.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2022, the U.S. closed its embassy in Belarus.According to U.S. media reports, after Trump returned to the White House earlier this year, the U.S. and Belarus relations showed a series of signs of freezing up.
Some U.S. and European analysts believe that the U.S. military officers were invited to observe the military exercises, and there is a consideration of Belarus' "gestational easing" in exchange for sanctions easing, and there is also the Trump administration hopes that Belarus will become the "buffer valve" of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. but the current interaction between the United States and Belarus is still in the "test water" stage, and there is a good distance from substantial warming.