Lukashenko: Belarus is ready to address ‘hostage’ issue raised by Trump

“Listening to Trump recently, I understood, most likely at your prompting, that he is very concerned about the issue of, as he put it, hostages, or whatever… political prisoners and something else,” the head of state said. “I have no objection. Let’s discuss this topic in a broader, global context. It is also important because some in Europe, and especially our self-exiled opposition (as we call them), are eager to latch onto this issue. Well, Chris [Christopher Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eastern Europe and Policy and Regional Affairs at U.S. State Department, who was also a present at the meeting], you know this well. I am well informed – you are negotiating with them and with us.”

“By all means, it’s your business whom you negotiate with. But given that there is a lot of falsehood surrounding this matter, I think we should discuss and address it. I will share my position with you – it is well known in Belarus. We are absolutely not in favor of these people being held in prisons. Moreover, they were not convicted for political reasons. We have no such articles in our criminal code. If Donald [Trump] is interested (though probably not very), we can present him with the details of each person’s offenses and crimes,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.