By Kate Sullivan, Bloomberg News
U.S. President Donald Trump said he is nominating John Coale as a special envoy to Belarus and asked President Alexander Lukashenko to consider releasing more political prisoners.
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Trump credited Coale — who is currently serving as a deputy special envoy to Ukraine and was previously one of the Trump’s lawyers — for the release of “100 Hostages” and said he “is going for an additional 50.”
“I would like to thank, in advance, the Highly Respected President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, for his consideration on the release of these additional people,” Trump posted on social media.
Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been sanctioned by various countries, including the U.S., for undermining democracy in the former Soviet republic.
Bloomberg previously reported that in September, Coale told Lukashenko during an in-person meeting that Trump had ordered the removal of sanctions on the Belarus state airline, Belavia. U.S. sanctions on Belavia were lifted in November.
Coale also passed on a letter from Trump at the time conveying birthday greetings to Lukashenko, according to video posted on the Belarus state-run Belta news service.
In August, Trump held what he described as a “wonderful” call with Lukashenko and said he thanked him for an earlier release of political prisoners and that the two leaders discussed the additional releases.
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