US has reached agreement with Belarus on release of 25 prisoners: Washington will lift sanctions on two companies
Belarus and the US have agreed on a temporary deal under which the Belarusian side will release 25 prisoners, whilst the US will lift sanctions against two Belarusian companies.
According to Censor.NET citing Radio Free Europe, this was stated following the talks in Minsk on 16 September by John Cole, the US President’s Special Envoy for Belarus, as quoted by the official Belarusian news agency Belta.
25 prisoners were released following talks between the US and Belarus
"As a gesture of goodwill, Belarus will release 25 people. The United States, in turn, will lift sanctions on two Belarusian companies: 'Lakafarb' and 'Bellespaperafram'," said Cole.
According to him, the negotiations will continue, and once all issues have been resolved, there will be further releases and a further lifting of sanctions.
"We have been conducting these talks for a very long time, and they will continue. We have made significant progress, in my view, and the process will continue," added the special envoy.
Cole later wrote on the social media platform X that "25 prisoners had been released", and posted a photo to that effect.
"President Trump’s commitment to direct diplomacy is yielding results. We thank President Lukashenko for this step, and we also thank our friends in Lithuania for their support. We will continue to improve relations between the US and Belarus and are working to secure the release of even more people in the near future," said Cole.
On 15 September, Alexander Lukashenko met with representatives of US President Donald Trump’s team, led by John Cole. Christopher Panico, a representative of the State Department, accompanied Cole to the talks.
On the Belarusian side, Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel and Belarus’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Valentin Rybakov, also took part in the negotiations.
When the issue of the release of political prisoners was discussed, Lukashenko once again stated that there is no political persecution in the country.
According to him, the ‘fugitives’ are lying when they claim that the repression is continuing and that, instead of those released under the agreements with the US, twice as many citizens are being detained and put on trial.
As Lukashenko stated, the Belarusian authorities "have absolutely no need for political persecution, as all processes in Belarus are under control".
There are still hundreds of political prisoners in Belarus
Meanwhile, according to human rights activists, as of 16 September, 912 people in Belarus had been recognised as political prisoners. As the Viasna Human Rights Centre points out, repression in Belarus continues: people are still being detained and tried in politically motivated cases.
