The talks in Brussels were the first meeting of any sort for more than two years within the Russia-NATO Council.

After eight hours of talks in Geneva, neither side appeared to give any ground. But both expressed willingness to keep talking.

The project was launched in the aftermath of last year’s unprecedented mass protests which clearly jolted Lukashenko after his disputed re-election to a sixth term and the widespread, and often brutal, use of security forces and the courts to crush dissent.