{"id":522870,"date":"2026-03-04T20:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T17:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=522870"},"modified":"2026-03-04T21:58:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T18:58:41","slug":"minsk-s-unneeded-peacemaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/minsk-s-unneeded-peacemaker","title":{"rendered":"Minsk\u2019s Unneeded Peacemaker"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Today, during a meeting with the Iranian ambassador, Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/b> finally spoke after five days and stated that \u201cBelarus has always adhered to and continues to adhere to peace.\u201d Despite previous failures, the Belarusian politician is making yet another attempt to act as a mediator and peacemaker. However, the result may once again prove disappointing. That is because Lukashenka\u2019s words fundamentally diverge from his actions.<\/p>\n

The Ears of Peacemaking<\/h2>\n

This time Lukashenka is maneuvering between his close friends \u2014 on the one hand Iran, and on the other the UAE and Oman. The Belarusian politician places major financial hopes on these two Persian Gulf states.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhankou<\/b>, acting on Lukashenka\u2019s instructions, spoke with his Omani counterpart Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al-Busaidi<\/b>. The ministers noted that all parties involved in the conflict should return to resolving disagreements through peaceful means in order to restore stability and security in the region.<\/p>\n

The very next day Lukashenka received Iran\u2019s ambassador to Belarus Alireza Sanei<\/b>. Apparently, one of the purposes of the meeting was an attempt to convey to Tehran a wish to stop shelling at least some Persian Gulf states \u2014 in particular the UAE and Oman. Lukashenka told the ambassador directly that he was \u201cconcerned by the fact that the Gulf states may be drawn into this war and become participants in this wild war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus, Lukashenka is once again trying to become a mediator and assume the role of peacemaker \u2014 reconciling Iran with the UAE and Oman, which are dear to his heart.<\/p>\n

Anywhere, But Not in Belarus<\/h2>\n

However, several previous attempts to prove himself in this role have not brought the Belarusian politician the results he desired.<\/p>\n

How many efforts and words Lukashenka invested in trying to present himself as a peacemaker in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine \u2014 hoping to get to the negotiating table, or at least to push Belarus as a negotiating platform where the terms of a future peace agreement would be discussed.<\/p>\n

What was the result? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/b> clearly stated that he does not consider it possible to hold peace negotiations on the territory of Russia or Belarus.<\/p>\n

There is nothing surprising about Kyiv\u2019s decision, because Lukashenka\u2019s claims to the role of peacemaker did not prevent him from assisting Russia with ammunition and products from the domestic military industry. He allowed the Kremlin to deploy tactical nuclear weapons and the Oreshnik system in our country. He permitted retransmitters on Belarusian territory to guide Russian drones toward Ukrainian cities. And this list of services provided to Russia does not end there. Not only Ukrainians see this.<\/p>\n

This is where the main contradiction lies \u2014 while placing the laurels of a peacemaker on himself with one hand, Lukashenka is vigorously throwing coal into the furnace of war with the other. Into the fire of constant provocations against neighbors and the militarization of the entire region.<\/p>\n

Who, in that case, will take the Belarusian politician seriously as a potential peacemaker? It must be either one thing or the other \u2014 it is impossible to be both an advocate of peace and a co-aggressor at the same time. For outside observers it has long ceased to be a secret that Lukashenka\u2019s words and actions fundamentally diverge. In speeches he is a passionate supporter of peace. In reality everything is exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan Loss<\/h2>\n

Attempts to influence processes far beyond his borders have also produced no results. Lukashenka tried in vain to act as a mediator in the Venezuelan story. He tried to convince the Americans that the country\u2019s president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/b> was not a drug addict and that fighting drug trafficking with missiles and the overthrow of the dictator would be useless. He met with Venezuela\u2019s ambassador to Russia Jes\u00fas Rafael Salazar Vel\u00e1squez<\/b>, who acted as a courier between official Minsk and Caracas. Evidently certain scenarios for saving his friend Nicol\u00e1s were being worked out.<\/p>\n

But the attempt to ease Maduro\u2019s fate led nowhere. The decisive word was spoken by U.S. President Donald Trump<\/b> \u2014 the Venezuelan politician was simply seized and taken out of the country.<\/p>\n

Thus another mediation attempt by Lukashenka ended in failure.<\/p>\n

A Bird in the Hand<\/h2>\n

It would be naive to think that Minsk\u2019s request to stop shelling the UAE and Oman \u2014 allies of Washington \u2014 will now be heard in Tehran. Although the leadership of the two Persian Gulf states may take note of the attempt to put in a word for them. A word that will not influence anything. It will not even impress the Belarusian audience itself. And outside Belarus the Minsk peacemaker is of no interest to anyone at all. Lukashenka himself, of course, would very much like to become needed and important. But words alone are not enough for that. Real actions pull him down.<\/p>\n

Moreover, in his pursuit of the cranes of big politics, Lukashenka is missing real opportunities to make the right impression on the powerful figures of the world. Although he was given such a chance. As early as last summer, President Trump personally discussed with Lukashenka by telephone the release of 1,300 Belarusian political prisoners.<\/p>\n

But Lukashenka ignored this request. Instead of a full-scale release process, people began to be freed in small batches, while at the same time being expelled from the country. The bird in the hand did not satisfy Lukashenka.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Trump invited Lukashenka to the Peace Council he created. But the Belarusian politician apparently decided to ignore this advance as well. The issue is not that he did not fly to Washington for the council\u2019s first meeting. The issue is that Trump\u2019s request remains unfulfilled. And this fact is unlikely to go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

However, it is possible that Lukashenka has not yet completely lost his chance. It is still not too late to release the prisoners. But each day of delay moves the politician further away from the opportunity to jump onto the last carriage of a departing train.<\/p>\n

The problem is that Lukashenka continues to behave unseriously with serious people. And with such an approach all his \u201cpeacemaking\u201d is doomed to failure. And not only his peacemaking. Rahbar would not let anyone lie.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The opinions and assessments of the author may not coincide with the position of the Reform.news editorial board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, during a meeting with the Iranian ambassador, Aliaksandr Lukashenka finally spoke after five days and stated that \u201cBelarus has always adhered to and continues to adhere to peace.\u201d Despite previous failures, the Belarusian politician is making yet another attempt to act as a mediator and peacemaker. However, the result may once again prove disappointing. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":522869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69a880e6b69a2.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Minsk\u2019s Unneeded Peacemaker"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142376,142339,142338,143090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-522870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comment","category-main","category-news","category-politics"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}