Фото: Пул первого
Aliaksandr Lukashenka invited Belarusian Prime Minister Aliaksandr Turchyn to talks with John Coale to review the implementation of previous agreements. He said this while welcoming the U.S. president’s special envoy.
“Dear John, we live far apart, so we do not see each other often. But I welcome you to Belarus. We did not hide the fact that you would come to us. And you did not particularly hide it either, we knew about it.
Our people knew that you were coming. I must tell you that society views your visits with great interest. And our neighbors and other heads of state are closely following our meeting,” Lukashenka stressed.
“As you can see, our company has expanded somewhat. I asked the prime minister to come so that he could report in detail on the results of our previous contacts in practice,” he added.
Coale, in turn, conveyed greetings from Donald Trump, noting that he “fully supports everything that we are doing.”
Turchyn is not the only “newcomer” at the negotiating table. The U.S. side is also represented by Christopher Panico, who replaced Chris Smith, who recently left the State Department.
Also present in Lukashenka’s office were participants in previous meetings: KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel, Belarus’ Permanent Representative to the UN Valiantsin Rybakou and Sarah Ryan, Strategic Communications Adviser at the Office of the Special Envoys for Belarus and Ukraine.
It should be noted that in March, during Coale’s previous visit to Minsk, it was announced that U.S. sanctions on Belarusian Potash Company, Belaruskali, the Ministry of Finance and a number of banks would be lifted. On Friday, Lukashenka said that Belarus was completing the shipment of a batch of potash fertilizers to the United States.