{"id":534846,"date":"2026-04-19T11:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=534846"},"modified":"2026-04-19T22:57:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T19:57:42","slug":"ask-for-money-or-weapons-do-i-need-it-i-do-lukashenka-on-possible-meeting-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/ask-for-money-or-weapons-do-i-need-it-i-do-lukashenka-on-possible-meeting-with-trump","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAsk for Money or Weapons. Do I Need It? I Do\u201d: Lukashenka on Possible Meeting With Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>In an interview with RT host <b>Rick Sanchez<\/b> on April 17 in Minsk, <b>Aliaksandr Lukashenka<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/pul_1\/20899\">spoke<\/a> about negotiations with the American side and a possible meeting with <b>Donald Trump<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Lukashenka confirmed that the topic of a \u201cbig deal\u201d has been discussed since the first days of contacts with the United States, but said he is not seeking at all costs to visit America.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;It is not true that I am eager to visit the United States of America and simply shake hands with Donald Trump. I will say frankly \u2014 it would be nice to see this man face to face and shake his hand. But this is not an end in itself. This is not the main thing. I am not <b>Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/b>, who would run to Donald Trump to ask for money or weapons. Do I need it? I do. Money would be good, and weapons would be good. But I understand that I am in a situation that is radically different from Zelenskyy\u2019s position. I do not need to bow down and beg for anything. It would be nice, but for now we are managing without it,&#8221;<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_95786\"  width=\"480\" height=\"270\"  data-origwidth=\"480\" data-origheight=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KrRMtXA1k3I?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=ru&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=0&#038;fs=0&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to him, the meeting will take place only when it is prepared at the working level and meets the interests of both sides.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;If the American side sees that tomorrow it will be a meeting of a vassal with an emperor, that will not happen either. This is not some kind of, you know, pompousness, it is not some kind of cocky politics. No, this is the policy of a real president who respects his own people. Therefore, I am ready for this meeting. We are ready. We are ready for a deal, but it must be prepared so that it includes the interests of both the United States of America and Belarus. And Americans must understand \u2014 many in Europe have already understood \u2014 that sanctions have not played their role. We have adapted. Therefore, political prisoners, sanctions \u2014 listen, these are minor issues. We have far more issues that need to be resolved. And this is the topic of the big deal. As soon as we prepare this at the lower level, we are ready to meet Donald and sign this agreement,&#8221;<\/i> Lukashenka said.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether Trump\u2019s ultimate goal might be to use a deal with Belarus to improve relations with Russia, Lukashenka said he \u0434\u043e\u043f\u0443\u0441\u043a\u0430\u0435\u0442 such a scenario and would welcome it.<\/p>\n<p>The question was as follows:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>&#8220;Please tell me, is it possible that through a deal with the Republic of Belarus, through this big deal, Trump\u2019s ultimate goal is to improve relations with Russia? That is, not only to improve relations with Belarus and, on the basis of mutual interests, reach some agreements, but then to continue this positive dynamic and reach an agreement with Russia, possibly lift sanctions on Russia and so on. Could this be his ultimate goal?&#8221;<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;I do not know. But I would be glad if Donald Trump, ultimately, in the end, saw much more behind our conversations and negotiations. Therefore, I think this is \u0432\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043d\u0435 possible. Perhaps he is probing a certain position of Belarus and projecting it onto Russia. That would be normal and reasonable. But, at the very least, we will do everything for this. Because we understand: if you reach an agreement \u2014 Americans with Russia \u2014 it will be twice as good for us as if you reach an agreement with us. You need to reach an agreement with Russia, and you can reach an agreement. Especially during Putin\u2019s presidency. He is a person with whom it is not only possible to talk, but to reach agreements. But one must clearly understand: if you promised \u2014 you must deliver,&#8221;<\/i> he replied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an interview with RT host Rick Sanchez on April 17 in Minsk, Aliaksandr Lukashenka spoke about negotiations with the American side and a possible meeting with Donald Trump. Lukashenka confirmed that the topic of a \u201cbig deal\u201d has been discussed since the first days of contacts with the United States, but said he is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":534768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69e533ba5226d.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"\u201cAsk for Money or Weapons. Do I Need It? I Do\u201d: Lukashenka on Possible Meeting With Trump"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143090],"tags":[143118,143122],"class_list":["post-534846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-rossija"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534846","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=534846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}