President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, described in detail how he tried to build rapport with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko ahead of a U.S. push to secure releases of political prisoners. Coale, who is tasked with seeking the release of hundreds of prisoners in Belarus, said his approach included vulgar language and vodka during their first meeting.
Coale said U.S. State Department officials advised him before the meeting that Lukashenko “likes to ‘yuck it up, so we yucked it up.’” Coale then described Lukashenko complaining about Europe during the meeting and Coale saying, in his account, that he told Lukashenko, “Yeah, they’re a bunch of p———,” explaining that he had found a way to connect after that moment.
Speaking at an event connected to the McCain Institute, Coale said the meeting stretched into what he described as a long lunch, during which he poured shots of vodka onto the floor when his host wasn’t looking to avoid becoming intoxicated. Coale said he joked that he limited himself to two shots, while some colleagues who attended the meeting drank more.
Coale defended his language in a later interview with The Associated Press, saying, “If I have to use locker room language to get 500 political prisoners released, I will do it every time.” He said his “very direct” diplomacy is producing results, and he described the relationship-building episode as part of how he approached Lukashenko.
The episode comes after other high-profile diplomatic moments in which U.S. officials used similarly crude language about Europe. Coale pointed to past incidents, including a leaked conversation in 2014 involving then–top U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland, as well as an earlier episode in 2003 involving State Department spokesman Richard Boucher referring to several European countries as the “chocolate makers.”
Coale’s role in Belarus diplomacy has also been tied to prisoner releases after Trump returned to the White House and Lukashenko sought improved relations with the U.S. Coale was appointed by Trump in March 2025 as deputy special envoy to Ukraine, helped win the release of 14 political prisoners from Belarus in June, and was later elevated to serve as special envoy to Belarus. Coale is married to TV journalist Greta Van Susteren.
Belarus has a population of about 9.5 million and Lukashenko has ruled for more than three decades, with Western governments sanctioning the country for political repression and for allowing Moscow to use Belarus territory for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Opposition to Lukashenko intensified after the 2020 presidential election, when tens of thousands protested what they said was a rigged vote and police detained and beat many demonstrators.
In more recent months, Belarus has freed political prisoners to try to win favor with the West, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition figures Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Viktar Babaryka and Maria Kolesnikova. Coale said Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners after a Minsk meeting in which Coale was involved, and Coale hailed that step as significant. The Associated Press reported that the release came as part of a deal that included U.S. sanctions relief.
The McCain Institute event took place days before that latest release of political prisoners. Coale predicted at the time that the Trump administration would be able to win the release of all political prisoners by the end of the year, saying he would be “willing to bet” and that he was planning additional trips to Belarus expected to lead to the release of “a couple hundred” more prisoners.
AP Diplomatic Writer Matt Lee contributed to this report.