Belarus prepares deal with US, not at Russia’s expense
Belarus is nearing a major deal to restore relations with the United States but will not give up its close ties with Russia, President Alexander Lukashenko said.
Speaking on Thursday, five days after the release of a large group of political prisoners in exchange for easing US sanctions, the senior authoritarian leader said he expected the thaw in relations would lead to a summit with US President Donald Trump.
“Everything is moving towards, as they call it, a big deal… Everything is moving towards me and Trump meeting and reaching an agreement,” said Lukashenko, who until Trump’s return to the White House this year was treated as an outcast by the West because of his “human rights record” and support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The US side said Lukashenko offered good advice as it seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war. U.S. officials told Reuters that by reaching out to him, Washington hoped to separate him to some extent from his close ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Belarusian opposition in exile says such an initiative is pointless because Lukashenko is heavily dependent on Putin’s political and economic support.
Lukashenko said the two sides discussed the reopening of the US embassy in Minsk, which was closed immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the necessary security arrangements.
He said rapprochement with the United States would not come to the detriment of any other country and that he and Putin had a “complete understanding” of what was going on.
Belarus has maintained close relations with Russia since it came to power in 1994, and “we will not deviate from this policy as long as I am president.”
He said Belarus this week received the new hypersonic missile Oreshnik, which Russia first fired at Ukraine last year.
Speaking at the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly, the country’s highest constitutional forum, Lukashenko said he would never allow a repeat of 2020, when mass protests broke out after the presidential election in which the opposition accused him of theft.
