Russia and its staunch ally Belarus, on Friday, July 4th, called for better relations with Washington in messages sent on the U.S. Independence Day.
“I hope that thanks to our joint efforts, relations between our countries … will acquire positive stability and predictability on the basis of mutual respect and consideration of mutual national interests,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a message.
U.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged on Thursday that he had made “no progress” towards ending the conflict in Ukraine, during a new telephone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday, meanwhile, called for a normalisation of relations between his country—which has been targeted by heavy Western sanctions—and Washington, in a telegram addressed to Trump.
“During your first presidency, Minsk and Washington embarked on the path of normalising relations,” Lukashenko said.
“Unfortunately, at a certain point, Belarusian-American cooperation deviated from this positive line,” he said, adding: “This situation does not correspond to the national interests of either our countries or our peoples.”
“It is time to change it,” said Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
