On Tuesday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko obtained a pledge from the United States to persuade American banks to return tens of millions of dollars in frozen Minsk assets, at a time when Washington resumed its efforts to persuade him to release hundreds of prisoners.
US presidential envoy John Cole made this pledge during talks with Lukashenko in Minsk. It is not yet clear whether a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to release more prisoners in exchange.
Viasna, a human rights organization banned in Belarus, says that the former Soviet state is still holding more than 900 political prisoners, even after Cole negotiated the release of hundreds of them since the middle of last year.
Among the most common charges against them are carrying out “extremist” activities, conspiring to seize power, inciting hatred or insulting the president.
Lukashenko said in televised statements directed at Kohl that Belarus would prosecute anyone who violates the law, and he also denied the presence of any political prisoners. He also denied claims by human rights groups and exiled opposition groups that he was arresting more people to replace those who were released.
He added: “I declare that these accusations are completely untrue. “We have no goals of sending new people to penal colonies instead of those who have been released.”
The talks came after a 6-month break. Kohl's efforts have so far resulted in the release, among many others, of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatsky and prominent opposition figures, and his diplomatic efforts have drawn the gratitude of many Belarusians, but also raised concerns.
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters: “We must use every opportunity to save lives. But we should not confuse release with political change. “The repression continues and Lukashenko continues to support Russia’s war.”
She added: “The goal should be to empty the prisons, not to rehabilitate the dictatorship.”
In other video clips from today's meeting, Cole was heard conveying greetings from President Donald Trump, and informing Lukashenko that Washington had asked American banks to lift the freeze on Belarusian funds. He said that work is underway to establish a mechanism for this.
Last week, Lukashenko demanded the return of what he said were funds to Belarus ranging between $43 and $44 million “stuck in Citibank,” describing this as a shameful matter for the United States. Citi declined to comment.
Analysts say that Lukashenko may raise the price for releasing prisoners, and that he is feeling frustrated. Because US actions, in particular the lifting of sanctions on Belarusian potash, an ingredient in fertilisers, were not met by the EU with similar measures.
Cole said that he had contributed to the release of between 700 and 800 people since mid-2025, but the Viasna human rights organization says that the total number of political prisoners has decreased to 912 today from 1,185 at the beginning of June 2025, that is, a net decrease of only 273.
Among the prisoners recently sentenced was Dmitry Laevsky, a lawyer who was defending prominent opposition figures. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison last week on charges of promoting extremism and defaming Belarus.
“If repression continues, and new prisoners replace those who are released, the punishments should be restored,” Tsikhanouskaya said. We have to stop this revolving door.”
United Nations experts said today that they concluded that there are “systematic” violations of rights at all stages of the judicial process in Belarus, and they spoke of arbitrary arrests, torture, deprivation of legal guarantees, closed trials, and continued harassment of former detainees.
A document and a United Nations official revealed, on Tuesday, that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, accepted Luke Lindbergh, the nominee of US President Donald Trump, from among dozens of candidates to take over the leadership of the World Food Programme, according to the Reuters news agency.
A letter dated September 11 to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the World Food Program stated that Guterres and the Chinese Gu Dongyu, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recommended Lindbergh, a senior American agricultural official.
The letter stated, without mentioning names, that about 54 candidates applied for the position, and 9 of them were shortlisted.
United Nations spokesman, Farhan Haq, confirmed to Reuters that the organization had accepted a recommendation from the hiring committee regarding this position, and had referred that recommendation to the World Food Programme, and was awaiting the response of its board of directors.
A United Nations official said that the nomination, which the DivX platform was the first to announce, is expected to be approved by the program’s board of directors on Friday.
There has been no comment from the White House or the US State Department yet.
The program says that about 300 million people face critical levels of hunger this year, with the situation worsening due to the war on Iran.
The program aims to provide an emergency response to food shortages worldwide.
The United States remains the largest donor to the “programme,” despite Trump’s reduction in funding. The program is usually headed by an American from the Republican Party.
Some American donations to the “program,” which is based in Rome, are in kind or conditional on the food being of American origin. Which also provides support to American agricultural companies.
