Trump’s envoy arrives for meeting with self-proclaimed Belarusian president

John Coale, US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, arrived in Minsk on Tuesday 15 September.

Source: Belarusian state-owned news outlet BelTA, as reported by European Pravda

Details: In Minsk, Coale held talks with self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

According to an official statement from the Belarusian side, the talks were also attended by Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, Ivan Tertel, Chairman of the State Security Committee, and Valentin Rybakov, Belarus' Permanent Representative to the UN.

During the talks, Coale conveyed greetings from Trump.

"He [Trump – ed.] fully supports everything we are doing," he said.

Background:

• It was reported on 28 April that a prisoner exchange had taken place under which Andrzej Poczobut, an activist in the Polish community in Belarus and journalist, returned to Poland, while archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, whose extradition had been requested by Ukraine, was handed over to Russia.
• Moldova returned two of its citizens from Russia – employees of the Information and Security Service – and released former deputy head of the agency Alexandru Bălan, as well as a Russian citizen who had been working against Moldova's interests.
• In June, Washington informed Belarusian democratic forces in exile about delays in the release of more political prisoners.

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