Christopher Panico Is Participating In The Talks Between Lukashenko And Cole
- 15.09.2026, 15:08
The diplomat is very familiar with the situation in Belarus as it relates to the events of 1999 and 2010.
Accompanied by the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for Belarus John Cole, American diplomat Christopher Panico—who had previously served in Belarus on multiple occasions—arrived in Minsk on September 15. In talks with the Belarusian authorities, he replaced former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Chris Smith, according to Charter97.org.
In 1999, Christopher Panico worked in Minsk as part of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group. Prior to that, he was an expert with Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division.
On October 17, 1999, Christopher Panico directly participated in the first “March of Freedom” in Minsk. He attended the demonstration as an OSCE representative. According to his testimony, after Nikolai Statkevich attempted to negotiate the route with the police, demonstrators were brutally beaten. Panico also reported that OSCE staff visited police stations, attempted to gain access to those detained, and planned to attend the trials.
An interesting detail: his first assignment to Belarus continued into 2000. On March 25, 2000, during an opposition rally in Minsk, the Belarusian police detained Christopher Panico himself for about two hours, despite the diplomatic ID he presented. The OSCE officially protested this action.
2010: return to Minsk as a U.S. diplomat
Christopher Panico arrived in Minsk again approximately two months before the presidential election on December 19, 2010, and the subsequent crackdown on mass protests in the Square.
From 2010 to 2012, the diplomat was stationed in Belarus and headed the Political-Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy.
The diplomat maintained ties with the Belarusian democratic opposition and human rights organizations. For example, in August 2011, the Belarusian human rights center “Viasna” reported that Christopher Panico, First Secretary of the U.S. Embassy, visited the organization’s office following the arrest of Ales Bialiatski.