President Alexander Lukashenko has tasked geologists with finding rare earth metals on the territory of Belarus. He described the matter as “the number one topic,” according to official Belarusian media outlet BelTA.
“They say we have rare-earth minerals here. We also need to explore the rest: chemistry, oil, gas, and so on. I have already set a corresponding task for the relevant minister….Rare earth minerals — Trump knows these words very well. You have not even thought about them yet. There are not a lot of them in the earth. Perhaps, we have them as much as the others,” he said in a meeting with a government team.
The relevant ministries will have to work hard, according to Lukashenko: “This is the future. We have to dig and explore what deposits we have.”
The Belarusian president raised the topic of rare-earth metals in Belarus against the background of the deals being discussed between Washington and Kyiv, under which Ukraine would grant the U.S. access to rare-earth metals on its territory in exchange for assistance in mining them. The signing of the relevant documents was expected to take place last Friday, Feb. 28, but after a clash with Vice President J.D. Vance and President Trump, President Zelensky left the White House early. In the last couple of days, however, the sides of the diplomatic conflict have confirmed the possibility of future negotiations, and even the signing of an economic cooperation agreement between Washington and Kyiv.
After Trump expressed interest in rare earth mining, Putin also convened a meeting to develop the industry inside Russia. He said that Moscow is ready to work with the U.S. on the extraction of rare earth metals on its territory, including in the occupied regions of Ukraine. This caused a mixed reaction among Russian public figures and officials. Among the critics was Putin's envoy to the Ural Federal District, Artem Zhoga, who argued that such metals should be preserved “in the interests of the state.”