Pompeo urges 'real progress' at Minsk meeting with Lukashenko (2) After a long freeze, the US has recently warmed ties with a country that is often described as Europe's last dictatorship and has been led by former collective farm director Lukashenko since 1994.\\nPompeo dangled the prospect of cheap US oil imports as Belarus recently began importing some Norwegian oil amid a row with Russia on prices. At the press conference he cited "real progress" on human rights but said that for sanctions to be lifted, "further progress" was needed. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES