The Trump administration has informed the Belarusian democratic forces of a delay in its efforts to persuade Aliaksandr Lukashenka to release more political prisoners. Democratic forces leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters.
Her comments were the first public confirmation of a slowdown in negotiations being led by President Donald Trump’s special envoy John Coale. As a result of those talks, Lukashenka has already released more than 400 prisoners. The Viasna Human Rights Center reports that nearly 870 people remain behind bars, including at least 170 whom the organization considers “particularly vulnerable” because of their age, illnesses or harsh detention conditions.
In an interview with Reuters, Tsikhanouskaya said the U.S. side had informed her that “the next releases were postponed for a while,” but that she could not disclose the reasons for the decision.
“Knowing the reason, it doesn’t worry me. Of course, we want more people to be released as soon as possible, and any delay, it ruins health for many of them,” she said in English. “But it’s not the end of the process.”
She pointed to optimistic comments by Coale, who wrote on the social media platform X on June 3: “We are not finished. Keep hope alive!”
Reuters requested comment from Coale and the Lukashenka administration. No response was received.
