| Taken Questions Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC July 18, 2001 Question Taken at July 18, 2001 Daily Press Briefing Belarus: Status of U.S. assistance
Question: What is the status of U.S. assistance, particularly regarding weapons programs, to Belarus? Answer: The U.S. formally suspended its military-to-military contact program with Belarus on July 14, 1998, as a direct consequence of Belarus's continued violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. This suspension includes all military educational exchanges and visits, Warsaw Initiative funding for Belarus participation in NATO Partnership for Peace exercises and events, the State Partnership Program, invitations to the George C. Marshall Center, and the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. The U.S. also withdrew its military liaison team from Belarus in 1998. We are spending $12.16 million on assistance programs in Belarus, the vast majority of which goes to Non-Governmental-Organizations working on restoring democracy in an independent Belarus. To this end, we are helping democratically oriented Belarusian citizens, including those striving to foster a civil society, free and fair elections, civil society and independent media, in their efforts to bring their country back into the Euro-Atlantic community of democracies. We also fund humanitarian projects stemming from the Chernobyl disaster. |
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