Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has made an official appeal to Donald Trump to normalize relations between Minsk and Washington, BTA reports.
In a telegram sent on the occasion of US Independence Day, Lukashenko stated that it is time for the two countries to restore positive momentum in bilateral contacts.
“During your first term, Minsk and Washington embarked on the path to normalization of relations“, Lukashenko wrote, quoted by his press service. “Unfortunately, at some point Belarusian-American cooperation deviated from this positive path.“
The Belarusian president, who has ruled the country since 1994, emphasizes that the current state of bilateral relations is not in the interests of either Belarusian or American society. “It is time to change it“, he insists, expressing hope for the restoration of dialogue and the implementation of new, mutually beneficial projects.
The call comes in the context of renewed efforts to bring the Trump administration closer to Moscow, a key ally of Belarus. Russia used Belarusian territory as a springboard for the start of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Agence France-Presse reminds.
At the same time, in late June, Belarusian authorities released opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had been detained since 2020, which Minsk said was at Trump's request. The news of the release came just hours after US envoy Keith Kellogg visited Minsk and met with Lukashenko.