Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
US presidential special envoy John Coale said that he did not take part in the May visit to Belarus by his own choice and that Belarus was not part of his responsibilities. The comment came in response to a post on X by Belarusian politician Valery Tsapkala, who reflected on the state of US-Belarus negotiations over the release of political prisoners and suggested that the process had reached an impasse.
“You have everything wrong. I didn’t go on the last visit because of my choice . Belarus wasn’t part of my choice. The trip was so Franklin Graham could preach which he did. My job was not part of it,” John Coale wrote on X.
In his post, Tsapkala suggested that the recent visit to Minsk by French intelligence chief Nicolas Lerner may indicate an attempt by Europe to take the lead in relations with the Lukashenka government.
According to Tsapkala, the United States fulfilled one of Minsk’s key demands by lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash, but Belarus cannot fully restore exports without access to European or Ukrainian transit routes. He argued that Lukashenka had expected Washington to persuade its partners to facilitate transit, but that this had not happened.
As a second possible reason for a cooling of relations, Tsapkala cited Coale’s public mention of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in the context of political prisoners’ release. He also noted that Aliaksandr Lukashenka received, together with Graham, Greta Van Susteren, Coale’s wife and a journalist.
It should be recalled that the Hope Festival, involving Protestant churches, took place at Chyzhouka Arena in Minsk on May 16-17. Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, travelled to Belarus from the United States and met with Aliaksandr Lukashenka.