Minsk and Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko became a "black channel" for laying the groundwork for the Trump-Putin summit. Lukashenko met with Trump's envoys five times this year and told his American "students" from the White House how to talk to Putin to persuade him to negotiate.
Lukashenko urged them to do it "carefully," the Belarusian dictator himself said in an explosive interview with Simon Shuster. "Do not dictate terms. Do not pound your fist. Do not insult Putin. Russia will not forgive him if he swallows such an insult," Lukashenko told Shuster.
Lukashenko's promises to bring Putin to the negotiating table, which could present Trump with a Nobel Peace Prize "on a silver platter," have sparked hope in the White House for a possible diplomatic breakthrough, which gives Putin more time to continue the war.