Alexander Lukashenko called the freezing of $43-44 million in Belarusian funds at Citibank ‘a disgrace for the United States.’ Now U.S. officials have asked the bank to release the money.
U.S. officials have asked Citibank to release Belarusian funds frozen at the bank. “We have requested from them as to why they have not released the money,” said U.S. presidential envoy John Coale, who met with Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on September 15.
The amount matches the figure Lukashenko cited last week. “Pay back what you owe. We have $43–44 million stuck in Citibank — a company that worked with us paid the money. It’s a disgrace for the United States,” he said during a meeting with journalists.
Coale’s previous visits to Minsk ended with the release of dozens of political prisoners, including opposition leaders Viktor Babaryko, Maria Kolesnikova, and Siarhei Tsikhanouski. Hundreds of political prisoners, however, remain in Belarus.
At Tuesday’s meeting with Coale, Lukashenko said Belarusian émigrés were “blowing this issue out of proportion” in the West. “As I understand it, they convinced you that although we release some people here, we simultaneously detain twice as many others as part of the ongoing repression. I want to state publicly that this is completely untrue,” Lukashenko said.
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