New U.S. charge d'affaires arrives in Minsk
MINSK. July 1 (Interfax) - Newly-appointed U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Belarus Scott Rauland arrived in Minsk on Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Belarus has reported.
According to the embassy, Rauland came to Minsk on June 30 to assume duties as head of the U.S. Embassy in Belarus.
Rauland held the post of director of the Foreign Policy Advisor Program in the Bureau of Political Military Affairs of the U.S. Department of State from 2012 to 2014. He also served as the U.S. Embassy's press attache, as well as the U.S. diplomatic mission's education and culture attache in Kuala Lumpur, Kabul, Frankfurt and Kyoto. His other previous jobs include the post of U.S. consular general to Russia's Yekaterinburg and director of the U.S. information center in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In 2008, the Belarusian authorities asked the United States to downsize its diplomatic staff in Minsk, prompting Washington to reduce the number of employees serving at the U.S. Embassy in Belarus from 35 to five. The U.S. diplomatic mission in Minsk is headed by the charge d'affaires. U.S. Ambassador Karen Stuart left Minsk at the Belarusian authorities' request in March 2008 after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Belarus's state-run energy giant Belneftekhim.