A TRUMP adviser has revealed a fat-jab drug was the key to freeing political prisoners from Russia’s closest ally, following a vodka-fuelled dinner.
Mirroring The Don’s approach of personal diplomacy, John Coale – lawyer and US envoy to Belarus – said he encouraged Europe’s self-described “last and only dictator” to sit at “the cool guy table”.
Coale, a veteran lawyer who represented Trump in lawsuits against social media platforms, revealed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko had been curious about his swift weight loss.
During a vodka-fuelled dinner in June, the 71-year-old leader asked if Coale had lost weight – opening the door for the personal discussion.
The envoy went on to recommend the weight loss jab Zepbound, promising to organise a supply of the injections for Lukashenko’s personal use.
Moving from fat-jab chat to high-school-style politics, Coale told the Wall Street Journal he had urged the leader to sit at the “cool guy table” with the US.
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As the conversation flowed, the Russian ally asked the Trump Administration to ease sanctions on his country, in exchange for the release of political prisoners.
The sanctions had prevented Lukashenko from having his own presidential jet repaired.
“This really is Trumpesque,” Coale said of the unconventional deal.
“The hell with who you’re talking to, if this person can deliver what you want, that’s all that counts.”
Lukashenko made good on the deal, releasing 123 prisoners in November, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had spent five years behind bars.
In exchange, the US lifted sanctions on potash – a fertiliser ingredient and lucrative export for the Eastern European nation – as well as allowing Boeing to supply plane parts to Belavia, the state airline.
“As relations between the two countries normalise, more and more sanctions will be lifted,” Coale said.
Trump has turned personal diplomacy into his political blueprint and is slated to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy out of global isolation.
Coale’s revelation comes as peace talks in the region hang by a thread following Russia’s threat to kill Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and put his body on public display.
A Russian nuke missile, with the capability to hit London in just eight minutes, was seen deployed in Belarus this week.
The nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile has been touted as being fast and powerful enough to evade any Western missile defence and hit targets anywhere in Europe, and it’s now in “active service”.
Troops in Belarus held a brief ceremony to mark its operational status, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence on Tuesday.
It did not say how many missiles had been deployed or give any other details.
Video released by the Belarusian Defence Ministry on Tuesday did not disclose the location of the missile systems, but showed mobile launchers and their crews driving along forest roads and specialist troops camouflaging the systems with netting.
Lukashenko boasted that Oreshnik will “make him strong” but in fact its use remains under Putin’s control.