Belarus has been an important ally for Russia during its war against Ukraine, in particular by serving as a launchpad for Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
But in a developing side story to the war, Donald Trump has sought to foster closer ties with Belarus’ long-standing dictator Alexander Lukashenko in recent months.
This afternoon, Trump announced that he will nominate White House official John Coale as special envoy to Minsk – stepping up bilateral diplomacy.
Who is John Coale?
Coale is a lawyer by training, who currently serves as Trump’s deputy special envoy to Ukraine.
He helped broker several releases of Belarusian political prisoners, that came on Trump’s urging.
In return, the US lifted some sanctions on the Belarusian national airline Belavia, marking the first lifting of American sanctions since the start of the war.
Coale has a colourful background:
- Once a Washington-area Democratic donor, he went on to advise the ultra-conservative Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin but supported a Democrat presidential bid in 2016;
- He’s married to Newsmax anchor Greta Van Susteren, a Fox News alumna;
- His wife introduced him to Trump, for whom he has worked as a lawyer, saying “the woke stuff” moved him left.
What is Trump’s endgame?
Observers are still working out what’s behind Trump’s ongoing push for prisoner releases and rapprochement with Putin ally Lukashenko, dubbed ‘Europe’s last dictator’.
Trump called Lukashenko before his Alaska meeting with Putin and sent Coale and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg with gifts.
In his announcement of Coale’s nomination, Trump praised Lukashenko as “the Highly Respected
President of Belarus”, thanking him for considering the release of 50 more prisoners.
“For Donald Trump, it could be an attempt to get closer to Vladimir Putin,” our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett said previously.
“Lukashenko is a close ally of the Russian president and could provide a strategic back-channel through which to apply pressure on the Kremlin when it comes to peace talks.
“But it could be more selfish than that, and merely his latest attempt to secure the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Either way, the timing is curious to say the least.”
Read Bennett’s full analysis of Trump’s mysterious diplomacy below…