Trump speaks with Lukashenko, thanks him for prisoner release ahead of Alaska summit

Hours before his scheduled summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, US President Donald Trump on Friday held a phone call with “highly respected” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of the Russian leader.

Trump said that the purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners.

Taking to Truth Social, Trump wrote, “I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners. Our conversation was a very good one.”

Lukashenko has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and permitted Russian forces to launch the initial phase of their 2022 offensive from Belarusian territory.

“We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting President Lukashenko in the future,” Trump added.

According to Belarus state news agency BELTA, “Lukashenko invited Trump and his family to visit Belarus, and he agreed.”

The leaders also discussed bilateral relations and the war in Ukraine, BELTA added.

Belarusian President Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994, has tightened his grip on power over the years, cracking down on independent media and political opposition under an increasingly authoritarian regime.

According to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna, the country currently holds 1,186 political prisoners. Many were detained in the aftermath of mass protests that erupted in 2020, following a disputed election widely condemned as fraudulent.

In late June, Lukashenko released more than a dozen political prisoners — including prominent opposition figure Sergei Tikhanovsky — in response to an appeal from the White House.

With inputs from agencies