Cole On New Arrests In Belarus: This Is Unacceptable

• 20.03.2026, 18:24

Trump's envoy raised the issue during his conversation with Lukashenko.

The U.S. President's special envoy to Belarus John Cole raised the issue of inadmissibility of new arrests in the country for political reasons during his talks with dictator Lukashenko in Minsk. Cole told "Deutsche Welle".

"I believe this is the first time I have raised the issue of new arrests as people are released. So we release 10 people and they arrest 10 more. I hope we've been able to convey to him that that's unacceptable," Cole said.

He added that "by the end of the year, we'll release everyone." But that doesn't mean that all U.S. sanctions will be lifted from Belarus.

"80% of the sanctions were imposed by the United States after the events of 2020, when people were arrested and imprisoned en masse. If people are released, there will be no reason to maintain that 80% of sanctions. Apart from that 80%, there is another 20% related to other issues. But if they come our way and we release all those people, the sanctions will be lifted," Cole said.