Belarus president proposes hosting Ukraine-Russia peace talks

MOSCOW: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered in an interview published on Wednesday to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks that could involve US officials.

“Tell (US President Donald) Trump that I expect him here with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky,” 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 Zelensky “since a large part of Ukrainian society is with him.”

“There is only 200 kilometres (125 miles) between the Belarus frontier and Kyiv. Half an hour in a plane. Come,” he declared in the interview recorded on February 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 Tuesday that Zelensky had told him he was ready for talks on a “lasting peace” with Russia.

Trump’s Washington meeting with Zelensky on Friday turned into an angry showdown and pressure has mounted on Zelensky after Trump ordered the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky has since posted on social media that the clash was “regrettable” and he wanted “to make things right” with the US leader.