US President Donald Trump said he plans to meet Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko at an upcoming “Board of Peace” session after claiming progress on prisoner releases in Belarus.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said his envoy John Coale helped secure the release of 250 detainees during talks with Lukashenko last week.
“Last week, my Envoy to Belarus, John Coale, after negotiating with Highly Respected President Alexander Lukashenko, got 250 more Political Prisoners freed! This brings the total Prisoners gracefully released by President Lukashenko to well over 500, since last May,” Trump wrote.
“I would like to give my warmest THANK YOU to the President for doing this, and I look forward to being with him at the next Board of Peace meeting!” he added.
Lukashenko has long denied the existence of political prisoners in Belarus, insisting the term is not recognized under national law.
The comments follow a March 19 meeting in Minsk between Coale and Lukashenko, where the envoy said 250 detainees were released in exchange for sanctions relief and further diplomatic engagement.
Coale said on X he was “on the ground” at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, calling the release a “significant humanitarian milestone” tied to what he described as Trump’s “hard-nosed diplomacy.”
Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for more than three decades. His government has been widely accused of detaining political opponents, with rights groups estimating at least 1,100 political prisoners since 2020, when disputed elections triggered mass protests and a violent crackdown.
According to US and diplomatic sources cited by Reuters, 15 of the released prisoners were transferred to Lithuania, while most remain in Belarus.
In exchange, Washington agreed to ease sanctions on Belarus’s financial sector, including Belinvestbank, and lift restrictions on major potash producers such as Belaruskali and the Belarusian Potash Company.
Potash is a key agricultural fertilizer ingredient, and global fertilizer markets have been under strain amid wider geopolitical disruptions.
US-Belarus contacts have been gradually warming in recent months, with Coale previously overseeing smaller prisoner releases.
Belarusian state media has also floated the possibility of reopening the US embassy in Minsk and a potential Trump-Lukashenko meeting.
Lukashenko is among the few leaders invited to join Trump’s “Board of Peace.” However, rights groups say the overall number of political prisoners in Belarus remains high, with hundreds more reportedly detained even as releases continue.