Lukashenko: our policy to renew relations with US should be based solely on interests of Belarus
Our policy on renewing relations with the United States should be based solely on the interests of Belarus — as noted by President Aleksandr Lukashenko during today’s meeting focusing on the global international situation and the development of Belarusian-US relations
The Head of State noted that the tendency to resume the Belarusian-US dialogue had gained some positive traction, “We have discussed this several times already. When the time is right, we will provide our people with detailed information. However, it is probably appropriate to say something about it now. Before I comment on Belarus-US relations and especially their future prospects, I would like to consult with you today. Recently, Minsk has hosted several meetings with special envoys from the US President. Experience has shown that the Americans engage in these contacts purely for pragmatic reasons. Naturally, our policy on renewing relations with the United States should be based solely on the interests of Belarus. Yes, we are willing to make some compromises and take the initial steps, expecting the Americans to honour their commitments, just as in the case of Belavia. They announced the lifting of sanctions against Belavia, but some issues still remain… Our Belavia executives state that the removal of these sanctions does not completely free the airline from certain unreasonable obligations... The Americans acknowledge this and say it will take some time to resolve these remaining issues. We are ready to wait for their global proposals, a big deal, as they like to call it. We are ready for this and are willing to make a big deal with them. On one side of the scale are their issues, requests and demands; on the other side are ours. Shall we decide? Let’s decide. We are ready for that. I fully consider Donald Trump’s proposals in this regard to be reasonable, but our interests must also be taken into account. Everything should be fair.”
