Alexander Lukashenko is sure the US president will agree to making Minsk the new American capital. But before Trump-haters spawn a Belarusian conspiracy theory, it’s only for a sports event and he was being metaphorical.

“Minsk will become the capital of the United States in two years,” Lukashenko proclaimed as he welcomed Team USA and Team Europe to Belarus for the beginning of an inaugural two-day athletic competition dubbed ‘The Match.’

“We’ll settle it all with Trump ... he will win the 2021 elections and show up here, at this stadium,” President Lukashenko vowed mistakenly moving the US presidential elections a year later.

He jokingly noted that the next Europe v USA match will also be held in 2021, but the United States can’t host the event on this occasion, because the city of Eugene, Oregon has already been selected as a venue for the World Athletics Championships.

“Don’t suspect foul play here as if we wanted to annex America... Minsk is going to be the US capital as it is the US that should hold this match,” he said.

The Belarusian president, himself a sports lover and an avid hockey player, told athletes: “We suggest that you stay here. Don’t rush to come back to Europe or America.” If selected as a venue for The Match again, Belarus will try its best to “take it to a higher level.”

The internet poked fun at the proposal, responding to it with a flurry of memes. One user uploaded an apparently fake Google search result that listed, in Russian, Minsk as “the capital of the United States of America.”

Other netizens were equally creative, trying to imagine how Mount Rushmore will look like in the future, or promoting “fresh DC merch.”

Срочно сдаю в печать новый макет классического вашингтонского мерча! pic.twitter.com/zPCnJWBnlL — Siarhei Hudzilin (@SiarheiHudzilin) September 9, 2019

Joking aside, the news comes days after both sides tried to thaw relations that have been frosty for years. Lukashenko met with US National Security Advisor John Bolton in late August, prompting speculation that Washington was trying to tilt the geopolitical balance on Russia’s Western borders.

However, experts contacted by RT said the American-Belarusian detente – if there is to be any – will not go beyond “pragmatic working relations with the US.”

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