MOSCOW: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered in an interview published on Wednesday (Mar 5) to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks that could involve United States officials.
“Tell (US President Donald) Trump that I expect him here with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy,” Lukashenko proposed in a video interview with US blogger Mario Nawfal reported by state news agency Belta.
Lukashenko is a close Putin ally and his country is under US and European sanctions over its support for Russia’s military action in Ukraine and a government crackdown on the opposition. Russia used Belarusian territory to send some troops into Ukraine in 2022.
But the 70-year-old president went on: “We are going to sit down and calmly make an accord. If you want to make an accord.”
Lukashenko said there had to be an accord with Zelenskyy “since a large part of Ukrainian society is with him”.
“There is only 200km between the Belarus frontier and Kyiv. Half an hour in a plane. Come,” he declared in the interview recorded on Feb 27.
Lukashenko praised Trump’s efforts to talk with Russia and end the three-year-old conflict.
“Trump is a good guy, he talks about it a lot and has already done something to end the war in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East,” Lukashenko said.
“It seems to me that his only policy is one aiming to end the war. It is a brilliant idea.”
The release of the interview came after Trump said on Tuesday that Zelenskyy had told him he was ready for talks on a “lasting peace” with Russia.
Trump’s Washington meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday turned into an angry showdown and pressure has mounted on Zelenskyy after Trump ordered the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy has since posted on social media that the clash was “regrettable” and he wanted “to make things right” with the US leader.
