Report on results of negotiation process with USA

There has been progress on many issues in Belarus-USA relations, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he heard a report on the results of the negotiation process with the United States.

“I must say that the U.S. administration has a lot on its plate today; there is plenty of work. But I very much appreciate that Donald Trump and his people are paying attention to our relations. Progress has been made on many matters,” the head of state said. “Although some issues are being made a big deal of, for example, presenting the release of political prisoners, as they call them, as a trade for the lifting of sanctions, and so on. Although today we have many other issues on our agenda related to embassies and so on. Including Belarus’ relations with the European Union, and also with regard to the United States.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that more than a month ago, during a regular round of negotiations with the U.S. delegation, the agreement was reached to hold this meeting. “We agreed that we would meet and discuss Belarusian-U.S. relations, their current state and our actions going forward,” he said.

The head of state noted that Belarus’ Permanent Representative to the UN, Valentin Rybakov, had been tasked with overseeing this process. “We used him as our representative in specific matters and affairs in the United States: to conduct negotiations and, most importantly, to implement our agreements. A month ago we agreed that he would come to Belarus and report on the implementation of our agreements," the Belarusian leader explained.

He asked the Belarusian diplomat to report thoroughly on these matters so that a decision could be made on further steps.
“For our part, we are faithfully honoring what we promised the Americans. The delegation was told at the time that we would very much like the Americans to honor the agreements 100% in this regard as well. We agreed to take a month for us to sort things out and for the Americans to straighten things up in order to move to the next stage of action. Valentin Rybakov will report to us on this situation, on what is happening today and what we still have to do," the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also sent his warmest wishes to U.S. Special Presidential Envoy John Coale, who heads the U.S. team in the negotiations, and to his wife, Greta Conway Van Susteren. The Belarusian head of state knows her personally. In December 2025 she came to Minsk to interview the Belarusian leader for the U.S. television company Newsmax.

“Please send my warmest wishes to John Coale and to his wife, a prominent journalist. And also my appreciation to Donald Trump for the attention he is giving to our relations,” the President said.

The event was attended by Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin, Prosecutor General Dmitry Gora, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov, and Belarus' Permanent Representative to the UN Valentin Rybakov.