Belarus, issued rare invitation to Board of Peace, says it received no visas

Belarus, a close ally of Russia rarely invited to international gatherings, said on Thursday it had intended to attend the inaugural meeting of U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace in Washington but failed to receive the necessary visas.

Belarus has long been subject to Western sanctions over its human rights record and punitive measures were intensified after President Alexander Lukashenko allowed his country's territory to be used for Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump has made diplomatic overtures to Belarus, dropping some sanctions in exchange for the release of detainees deemed political prisoners by Western countries.

Belarusian Foreign Minister Maxim Ryzhenkov had been due to attend, his ministry said, and the U.S. side duly informed.

"However, despite carrying out all the required procedures from our side, visas were not issued to our delegation," the ministry said in a statement.

"In this situation, a valid question arises -- what kind of peace and what kind of sequence of steps are we talking about if the organisers cannot even complete basic formalities for us to take part?"

The ministry said Trump's invitation to attend the Board of Peace meeting had originally been sent to Lukashenko.

Lukashenko, in power since 1994, agreed last month to join the Board of Peace -- an invitation extended by the U.S. as part of its normalisation process involving prisoner releases.

Trump has called Lukashenko a "highly respected" leader - a description at odds with those by exiled Belarus opposition leaders, who denounce him as a dictator.

Representatives of 47 nations attended the meeting of the Board, proposed by Trump in September when he announced his plan to end Israel's war in Gaza. He later made clear the board's remit would expand to tackle other conflicts worldwide.

-Deepa Babington/Reuters