US President Donald Trump wrote in his social network Truth Social that he had a “wonderful conversation” with the authoritarian leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.
According to the US President, the conversation was, in particular, about the release of 1,300 Belarusian political prisoners.
“I had a wonderful conversation with the honourable President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to express gratitude to him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of another 1,300 prisoners. Our conversation was very productive. We discussed many topics, particularly President Putin’s visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting with President Lukashenko in the future,” Trump wrote.
Lukashenko’s website notes in just one sentence that the phone conversation with Trump took place on 15 August.
The US president is en route to Alaska, where he will hold his summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on 15 August late in the evening Kiev time.
Although Trump and Putin have spoken by phone at least five times since January, the 15 August meeting, which will take place at an airbase near Anchorage, will be their first face-to-face meeting in Trump’s second term and the first meeting between a Russian leader and a sitting US president since 2021. The summit is expected to start at 11:00 local time (22:00 Kiev time) and is scheduled to take place at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base.
On the eve of the US President Donald Trump said that the purpose of the summit in Alaska on 15 August is to prepare a second possible meeting, which, as the US President admits, could also be held in Alaska “very soon”. We are talking about a meeting involving both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It would, according to Trump, be more important than his summit with Putin.
Trump suggested that there is a 25 per cent chance that his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska will not be successful.