Belarusian president holds 5-hour meeting with US envoy in Minsk

MOSCOW

Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday held a five-hour meeting in the capital Minsk with US Special Envoy John Cole.

According to the Belarusian state news agency BelTA, Alexander Lukashenko thanked US President Donald Trump for his efforts for peace in various parts of the world.

"No matter how trite it may sound, I want to thank your president, not because I'm trying to flatter him, that's alien to me, for the efforts he's making toward peace, especially in our region," Lukashenko said, adding that Trump had halted many conflicts.

"I say this both as a historian and as a president who has been in office for quite some time – no US president has made so much effort or exerted such effort to ensure peace on the planet," he said.

According to Lukashenko, one of the important topics of the conversation was the release of several convicted individuals in Belarus.

"I am ready to discuss this issue. And if Donald insists on taking all those released people under his wing, God bless you, let's try to come up with a global deal," he said.

Noting that Western countries call some Belarusian prisoners "hostages” or “political prisoners," Lukashenko offered to send Trump files detailing each individual's crimes and offenses.

"We are absolutely not supporters of keeping these people in correctional colonies. Moreover, they weren't sentenced for politics. There are no such articles in our criminal code," he said.

Turning to prospects for the US-Belarusian cooperation, Lukashenko expressed significant interest in restoring ties in this area.

"I believe there's mutual interest between us and through Belarus to Russia in the field of the economy. Naturally, we're very interested in your global country economically," he said.

Cole said he handed Lukashenko a letter from Trump containing warm greetings and wishes on the occasion of the Belarusian leader’s birthday, which fell on Aug. 30.

Cole also told Lukashenko that Washington had lifted sanctions on Belarusian flag air carrier Belavia.

"I want to officially announce here today that we've removed sanctions against Belavia. It's official," he stressed.

Cole said the decision was announced by Trump at a meeting in Washington attended by "dozens of others involved."

"This decision was taken by the president himself, who said – do it immediately," Cole said.

According to him, now the decision has already been approved and adopted by all US departments and agencies involved in this process.