Встреча Александра Лукашенко со спецпосланником США в Беларуси Джоном Коулом в Минске. 12.12.2025. Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко.
The United States is considering inviting Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the White House or to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as part of efforts to pursue diplomatic rapprochement with Belarus, the Financial Times reports.
Trump’s special envoy John Coale confirmed to the publication that internal discussions about inviting Lukashenka to meet with Trump have been ongoing “for several months”, but no final decision has been made.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but I think we will achieve it,” Coale noted.
It should be recalled that after meeting with Coale, Lukashenka said that Trump had invited him to his home in Florida.
A meeting with Trump would be a significant success for Lukashenka, the publication notes.
Coale did not say what preconditions might be set for a meeting with Trump and noted that everything depends on the American president.
Trump’s special envoy stressed that his work in Minsk is “95% a humanitarian initiative” and is not an attempt to pull Belarus away from Russia.
“I am not going to drive a wedge between him and Putin. This is a relationship spanning 30 years,” he said. Coale added that he knows well who Lukashenka is, but that they trust each other.
He also noted that easing US sanctions against the Belarusian regime depends on sustained improvements in Lukashenka’s behavior and on fulfilling his promise to immediately stop all politically motivated arrests.
It should be recalled that on March 19, as a result of negotiations between Coale and Lukashenka, 250 political prisoners were released. Fifteen of them were taken to Lithuania without passports, while the rest were allowed to remain in Belarus. In total, more than 500 people have been released since last year thanks to US efforts. According to FT, six US citizens were among them.