U.S. President's Special Envoy Cole Plans To Visit Belarus And Secure The Release Of Even More Political Prisoners

• 30.08.2026, 10:39

An approximate date has been announced.

U.S. President’s Special Envoy John Cole plans to visit Belarus in mid-September to secure the release of “even more political prisoners”. He made this statement in an interview with "Voice of America".

“First of all, I want to emphasize that work in this area [the release of political prisoners] is continuing right now. Moreover, in a couple of weeks I plan to travel to Belarus again, and I hope to secure the release of even more political prisoners. I think I’ll succeed. <�…> I hope this will happen in mid-September,” Cole said.

He noted that the U.S. had already secured the release of 500 prisoners, after which another 200 or so were released (through pardons signed by Alexander Lukashenko—Ed.).

“So the actual number is about 700–800 people. I hope to bring that number up to a thousand soon. <�…> As far as I know, almost all of the most well-known prisoners have been released. I also managed to negotiate the release of many participants in the 2020 events, who were able to remain in Belarus and return home. This was very important to me. People returned home to their families. “This is a tangible result, and this issue remains part of our negotiations,” Cole said.

According to the U.S. president’s special envoy, he has also discussed the normalization of relations with Lukashenko on more than one occasion. And, in his view, over the past year, Washington and Minsk have taken important steps toward improving relations and are moving in the right direction.