Direct US-Belarus talks resumed after six months as Minsk still holds reportedly more than 900 political prisoners. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko won a promise from the United States on Tuesday to get US banks to hand back tens of millions of dollars in frozen Belarusian assets, as Washington resumed efforts to persuade him to free hundreds of prisoners. US presidential envoy John Coale made the commitment at talks with Lukashenko in Minsk. It was not immediately clear if the veteran leader, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had responded by agreeing to more prisoner releases. Human rights group Viasna, which is banned in Belarus, says the former Soviet state still holds more than 900 political prisoners, even after Coale negotiated the release of hundreds since the middle of last year. Among the most frequent charges against them are "extremist" activity, conspiring to seize power, incitement to hatred, or insulting the president. In robust televised remarks to Coale, Lukashenko said Belarus would prosecute anyone who broke the law and denied there were any political prisoners. He rejected assertions by rights groups and the exiled opposition that he is steadily arresting more people to replace those he releases. "I want to state publicly that this is absolutely untrue. We have no objective of sending new people to penal colonies in place of people who are freed," he said. The talks came after a gap of six months. Coale's efforts so far have led to the release, among many others, of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figures. His diplomacy has earned gratitude from many Belarusians, while also raising concerns. "We should use every opportunity to save lives. But we should not confuse releases with political change. Repression continues, and Lukashenko continues supporting Russia's war," exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said in comments to Reuters. "The purpose should be to empty the prisons, not to rehabilitate the dictatorship." Lukashenko wants money 'stuck' in US to be sent back In more video clips of Tuesday's meeting, Coale was heard passing on greetings from President Donald Trump and telling Lukashenko that Washington had asked US banks to unblock frozen Belarusian funds. He said a mechanism for this was being worked out. Last week, Lukashenko demanded the return of what he said was $43 to $44 million belonging to Belarus that he said was "stuck at Citibank", calling it a disgrace for the United States. Citi declined to comment. Analysts say Lukashenko may be raising his price for releasing prisoners, and is frustrated that US actions - in particular lifting sanctions on Belarusian potash, an ingredient in fertilisers - have not been matched by the European Union. Coale has claimed credit for the release of 700 to 800 people since mid-2025. But the human rights group Viasna says the total number of political prisoners has fallen to 912 today from 1,185 at the start of June 2025 - a net drop of only 273. Among recent prisoners to be sentenced was Dmitri Laevski, a lawyer who had defended prominent opposition figures. He was jailed for three years last week for promoting extremism and discrediting Belarus. "If repression continues and new prisoners replace those released, sanctions should return," Tsikhanouskaya said. "We have to stop the revolving door." U.N. experts said on Tuesday that they had found "systematic" rights violations at every stage of the judicial process in Belarus. They cited arbitrary arrests, torture, denial of legal safeguards, closed trials and continued harassment of former detainees. The Belarus mission to the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
