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Alyaksandr Lukashenka said preparations for a “major deal” with the United States are ongoing. The statement follows his talks in Minsk with US President’s Special Envoy John Coale, after which it was announced that 250 political prisoners had been released and some sanctions on Belarus lifted. Coale later said he hopes all political prisoners will be freed by the end of the year.
“Yes, indeed, during the negotiations — this was the third or fourth round — the Americans, on behalf of Trump, proposed concluding a major deal that would cover a number of issues on our agenda. Why would I refuse? This is important for Belarus, and for me personally. So I said: ‘I accept this, tell Donald that I agree to work on this major deal and prepare it,’” Lukashenka said.
He added that while US attention may currently be focused on other issues, the process is continuing.
“We have outlined our interests and sent the Americans the relevant proposals. As they informed me, these are being worked on. The major deal is not only about ‘political prisoners,’ as they call them — although I constantly remind them that we have no political prisoners, because we have no political articles,” he said.
“I have never asked them for anything in return, even regarding sanctions. Never,” he added.
According to Lukashenka, the agenda includes not only diplomatic issues such as the functioning of embassies, but also nuclear materials.
“You know that we have quite a lot of these nuclear materials. They are under control, as previously agreed. The IAEA sees where we store these materials. This is also of interest to them in terms of non-proliferation,” he said.
Belarus is a party to the Safeguards Agreement under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In January this year, an IAEA inspection at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant included a physical inventory of nuclear material, maintenance of monitoring systems, and verification of records.
“We are preparing for this major agreement with the Americans,” Lukashenka said.
Lukashenka first began speaking about a “major deal” in October last year, when he said he was ready to conclude such an agreement with the United States, provided Belarus’s interests were taken into account. He described it at the time as “we do what they want, and they do what we want.”