NYT: A senior U.S. official visited Minsk for the first time in five years.

This week, the authorities of Belarus released three prisoners, including journalist Andrei Kuznechik from the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and an unnamed U.S. citizen. As noted by Stephen Kaplan, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, representatives from Donald Trump's administration participated in the negotiations for their release.

According to The New York Times, prior to the release of the prisoners, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Smith and two American officials visited Minsk. This marked the first meeting between Lukashenko and a senior U.S. official in the past five years. Sources indicate that upon returning from Belarus, Smith described the release of political prisoners as a "huge victory" and a triumph of President Trump's "Peace through Strength" policy during a meeting with diplomats in Vilnius. It is also reported that the American diplomat suggested that the next step could involve the release of prisoners, including high-profile cases, in exchange for a loosening of sanctions, particularly regarding potash exports. In addition to securing the release of political prisoners, another goal of U.S. diplomacy is to weaken Lukashenko's ties with Russia, which have notably strengthened since the suppression of mass protests in Belarus in 2020 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The official Minsk, like the State Department, has not yet commented on the newspaper's report.

The U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on Belarus following the suppression of protests in 2020, among other things, refusing to recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of the country. The sanctions were intensified due to Minsk's support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Lukashenko has repeatedly accused Western countries of preparing an attack on Belarus, and Russian nuclear weapons have been deployed in the country. However, previously, American diplomacy attempted to engage with the Belarusian leader, primarily to prevent his complete subordination to the Kremlin. During Trump's first term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notably visited Minsk.

• Journalist Andrei Kuznechik had been imprisoned since 2021. He was initially detained on charges of petty hooliganism. Later, it became known that a criminal case had been initiated against him. On June 8, 2022, the Mogilev Regional Court sentenced him to 6 years in a high-security penal colony for creating an extremist organization. The closed trial lasted only a few hours, and the details of the case remain unknown.
• Kuznechik spent most of his sentence in a correctional colony in Novopolotsk. For the last few months, the journalist was held in the KGB pre-trial detention center in Minsk.
• In Belarus, according to human rights advocates, there are over 1000 people imprisoned on political grounds.