The US presidential administration is considering inviting self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to meet with Donald Trump at the White House or his Mar-a-Lago estate. Senior officials have been discussing the matter for several months, but a final decision has not yet been made.
This was stated by Trumpʼs special representative for Belarus John Cole in an interview with the Financial Times.
On March 20, Lukashenko said Trump had invited him to Mar-a-Lago to discuss a “grand deal”. The day before, he had met with Cole in Minsk and released 250 political prisoners, the largest single release in Belarusian history to date.
In exchange, the United States agreed to ease sanctions on the Belarusian financial sector, including the Ministry of Finance and the Development Bank of Belarus, as well as three potash companies — “Belaruskali”, “Belarusian Potash Company”, and “Agrorozkvit”.
Cole declined to specify what preconditions might be put forward for a meeting between Trump and Lukashenko. The envoy hopes that the remaining political prisoners will be released by the end of the year. According to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna, almost 900 political prisoners remain behind bars.
Although Lukashenko has repeatedly maneuvered between Russia and the West during his more than 32-year rule, American officials are trying to present the current steps towards rapprochement primarily as a humanitarian initiative.
“This is 95% a humanitarian issue. I’m not going to drive a wedge between him and Putin — this is a 30-year relationship,” said Cole, who has visited Belarus several times over the past year and met with Lukashenko.
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