Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday ordered the release of 123 prisoners, including 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and prominent opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova. This measure comes after two days of negotiations with an envoy from US President Donald Trump, according to a press release released by the White House. A video shared by Belarusian media operating in exile shows Kolesnikova, near what appears to be a border crossing, kissing two other opposition figures also released, according to her team and Ukrainian authorities: Viktor Babariko and Maksim Znak. Bialiatski, a human rights activist, was expected soon in Vilnius, the capital of neighboring Lithuania, according to local authorities.
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A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Belarus, which currently operates in Vilnius, said 123 prisoners, many of whom had been imprisoned for their political activism, had been released. Among them were Australian, British, Lithuanian, Polish and American citizens.
Ukrainian authorities said five Ukrainians and 104 Belarusians arrived on Ukrainian territory on Saturday, where they were received by General Kyrylo Budanov, head of kyiv’s military intelligence service.
The meetings between Coale and Lukashenko – and the exchange of high-profile political prisoners – represent a slow but steady thaw in relations between Washington and Belarus, a vassal state of Russia.
Coale told reporters on Saturday that the negotiations had been “very productive.”
“We talked about the future, about how to move forward on the path of rapprochement between the United States and Belarus to normalize relations,” he said. “That’s our goal.”
The meetings are the latest step in a months-long rapprochement between Washington and Minsk that has resulted in the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the slow restoration of economic relations.
Since 2020, the United States has repeatedly imposed sanctions on Belarus, a close ally of Russia. That’s when Mr. Lukashenko, aided by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, suppressed widespread protests against what critics called a fraudulent election. Relations deteriorated in 2022 when the Belarusian leader allowed the Kremlin to use his country as a base for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
But Trump has taken a different approach to autocratic leaders around the world. On Friday, Lukashenko praised the US president effusively.
“They say Trump likes flattery,” Lukashenko told Coale on Friday during a meeting at the Belarusian leader’s sprawling residence. “But I’m not here to flatter you. I want to say that I really like your recent actions.”
Before 2022, landlocked Belarus used the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania to export its potash. When the war in Ukraine led the Lithuanian government to cut off this export route, Minsk was pushed further into the Russian orbit, giving Moscow more control over global supplies of crucial fertilizer.
Currently, most Belarusian potash is exported via Russia, a route that proves much more expensive for Belaruskali, the state-owned potash company that produces about 20 percent of the world’s supply. The company is Belarus’ largest taxpayer.
The exact details of the sanctions relief announced on Saturday and possible new export routes for Belarusian potash have not yet been made public.
Minsk has released at least 430 prisoners since July 2024, and the release of around 70 of them was negotiated by the Trump administration. But the pace of political repression in Belarus has not slowed and more than 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars, according to Viasna, a Belarusian human rights organization chaired by Bialiatski.
The released prisoners reported being deprived of food and adequate medical care. Sergei Tikhanovsky, a Belarusian opposition blogger, was prevented from communicating with his family for years in prison and lost 60 kg behind bars.
Coale’s latest visit to Belarus, with a population of 9.5 million, was at least his fourth this year. In September, Washington promised to lift sanctions on Belavia, the Belarusian national airline, and consider reopening an embassy in Minsk.
The negotiations between the Trump administration and Lukashenko’s government come amid a series of diplomatic activities aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. Coale told reporters on Saturday that he had also discussed the war with the Belarusian leader.
Lukashenko, whose country is located between Ukraine and Russia, has always sought to get involved in negotiations to end the war, and Washington has said he used the Belarusian autocrat as an intermediary to send messages to the Russian leader. Putin and Lukashenko have a long history together, Coale said.
— They have been friends for a long time and have the level of relationship necessary to discuss these issues — he told reporters on Saturday. — Naturally, President Putin can accept some advice and not others. This is one way to make the process easier. (With the New York Times)
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