By Andrew Osborn
(Reuters) -President Donald Trump wants to reopen the U.S. embassy in Belarus in the near future, normalise ties, and revive the economic and trade relationship, John Coale, a Trump representative, said on Thursday.
Coale was speaking in Minsk to Belarusian reporters after holding talks with President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to release 52 prisoners in what he called a humanitarian gesture.
In return, the U.S. will grant sanctions relief to Belarus’s national airline Belavia, allowing it to service and buy components for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft, a U.S. embassy spokesperson in Vilnius said.
“Right now it’s a good relationship, but not a great relationship and I think we eventually want to open up our embassy again, we want to have trade between the countries and that’s not exactly happening now,” said Coale.
Asked when the U.S. embassy might reopen, Coale said: “I can’t tell you the dates, but it’s in progress. I know it has to happen and will happen in the very near future.”
The United States closed its embassy in Minsk in February 2022 after Putin used Belarus as a launch pad to send tens of thousands of troops into neighbouring Ukraine.
Critics accuse Lukashenko, 71 and in power since 1994, of locking up his political rivals, of using force to repress dissent, and of falsifying elections. Lukashenko, who casts himself as a paternal figure to his nation of 9 million people, denies vote-rigging allegations.
Coale said Washington wanted to ensure that any differences between the U.S. and Belarus did not “come to the surface” and spoke in positive terms about the working relationship he had with Lukashenko.
“So far, I have a good relationship with your president. We joke and I believe we’re very honest with each other and that goes a long way to normalising the relationship.
“I believe that President Trump will be satisfied also (with the prisoner release deal). President Trump and your president are both the type of leaders that want to bring countries together and not emphasise their differences but emphasise their commonality,” said Coale.
(Reporting by ReutersWriting by Andrew Osborn in LondonEditing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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