Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko on Friday hosted Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, the latest step in Minsk’s efforts to mend ties with Washington.
Coale who has been tasked by Trump to negotiate the release of political prisoners in Belarus, said their meeting could help solve certain problems.
A Telegram channel linked to Lukashenko’s administration showed the Belarusian President warmly welcoming Coale.
"You're currently our top official on Belarus. Tell Trump that we must do something about this. And we will," said Lukashenko, a close ally of Vladimir Putin.
State news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying: "They say Trump loves flattery. But I'm not doing it for the sake of flattery. I want to say that I really like his actions lately. "We have many questions. The world is changing very quickly, and new problems are emerging that we need to discuss. And perhaps even resolve some of them."
Trump has been pushing for the release of 1,400 people that Trump has called "hostages".
During his last visit to Belarus in September, Coale had convinced Lukashenko to release 52 people, of whom 40 were political prisoners, Viasna human rights group has reported. In turn, Washington lifted sanctions against Belarusian state airline. But since then, Viasna has designated 167 new individuals as political prisoners.
Prior to Trump’s appointment to the second term of presidency in January, Western leaders had treated Lukashenko as pariah, slashing Belarus with economic sanctions for the country’s human rights violations and its support for Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine.
