By Andrius Sytas
VILNIUS, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy John Coale said on Thursday he was "getting great progress" in reconciling Russian ally Belarus with its neighbour Lithuania, a NATO and European Union member.
The two countries' relationship has been deteriorating since 2020 when Lithuania sided with protesters in Minsk after President Alexander Lukashenko declared himself the winner of Belarus' contested presidential election.
Lithuania has since accused Minsk of orchestrating a flow of migrants through its borders, encouraging cigarette smugglers using high-altitude balloons that have caused over dozen closures of Vilnius airport and, most recently, seizing hundreds of Lithuanian trucks.
Coale said he met with Lithuanian leaders this week "to try and solve some of their problems" with Belarus, and then raised Lithuania's concerns during hours of talks with Lukashenko on Thursday.
"I think we're getting great progress with that", he told Reuters after the meeting, which resulted in Lukashenko releasing 250 political prisoners and U.S. removing some of its sanctions.
"Lukashenko understood that these kind of irritants are no good," Coale said.
On the issues of cigarette smuggling and truck seizures, "I think that Lukashenko is in the mindset that these are not too important issues, and they're worth giving up," Coale said.
In December, Coale said Lukashenko had promised he would stop the balloons flying into Lithuania.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
