John Coale said Washington has approached Citibank about returning tens of millions of dollars to Belarus<\/p>\n
US presidential envoy John Coale has vowed to work with American banks to release tens of millions of dollars in frozen assets belonging to Belarus, Russia\u2019s close ally in Europe.
\nPresident Donald Trump\u2019s envoy made the remarks in Minsk on Tuesday while meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as part of broader talks on normalizing economic ties and prisoner releases.
\nLukashenko called for the release of around $43\u201344 million that he said was \u201cstuck\u201d in Citibank. \u201cPay back what you owe us,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cYou are absolutely right. This money must be unfrozen and returned. We have approached the bank with a request to unfreeze these funds,\u201d Coale said, adding that Washington was working on a concrete mechanism to facilitate the transfer.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Belarus releases 123 prisoners after Trump envoy\u2019s visit<\/p>\n
Many Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus in 2020 in response to a crackdown on protests following that year\u2019s presidential election and expanded them in 2022, accusing the country of aiding Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Lukashenko has denied helping Russia militarily and accused NATO of plotting to overthrow him. He has also claimed that the 2020 protests and riots in Minsk were incited from abroad.
\nCoale\u2019s trips to Minsk last year ended with the release of dozens of opposition politicians and activists. During Tuesday\u2019s talks, Lukashenko denied that the prosecution of opposition figures was politically motivated.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky threatened Belarus \u2013 then declared victory out of thin air<\/p>\n
\u201cIf any Belarusian citizens \u2013 or foreign nationals present in the country \u2013 violate Belarusian law, we will certainly respond in accordance with the law,\u201d he said.
\nLast week, the Belarusian president said he was prepared to discuss further agreements with the US only after the return of the assets frozen at Citibank. He made the statement while discussing the resumption of Belarusian fertilizer exports to the US.
\nThe Trump administration has held several rounds of negotiations with Minsk that have facilitated the release of hundreds of prisoners and the easing of economic restrictions on Belarus. Washington has also lifted some restrictions, including sanctions on Belarusian state flag carrier Belavia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John Coale said Washington has approached Citibank about returning tens of millions of dollars to Belarus US presidential envoy John Coale has vowed to work with American banks to release…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t