Trump's envoy visits Belarus for talks with Lukashenko on prisoners

By Mark ‌Trevelyan

Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. envoy John Coale, tasked by President Donald ‍Trump ‌with negotiating the release of political prisoners in Belarus, held talks ⁠in Minsk on Friday with President ‌Alexander Lukashenko, state media said.

A brief video published by a Telegram channel linked to Lukashenko's administration showed him greeting Coale with a handshake and a ⁠brief embrace and congratulating him on his appointment last month as Trump's special envoy.

"You're ​currently our top official on Belarus. Tell Trump ‌that we must do something about ⁠this. And we will," Lukashenko said.

State news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying: "They say Trump loves flattery. But I'm not doing ​it for the sake of flattery. I want to say that I really like his actions lately."

He added: "We have many questions. The world is changing very quickly, and new problems are emerging that ​we need ‍to discuss. And perhaps ​even resolve some of them."

Trump has urged Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to free up to 1,400 people that Trump has called "hostages".

When Coale last visited Belarus in September, he persuaded Lukashenko to release 52 people, of whom 40 were political prisoners, according ⁠to human rights group Viasna. One was subsequently returned to jail after refusing to be deported.

In return, ​the United States removed sanctions against the Belarusian state airline.

But since that time, Viasna has designated 167 new individuals as political prisoners. The exiled Belarusian opposition accuses Lukashenko of operating ‌a "revolving door", replacing old detainees with new ones.

(Additional reporting by Felix Light and Maxim Rodionov, writing by Mark Trevelyan, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)