The United States continues to contact the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, in order to ensure channels of communication with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.
This was stated by the US special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, The Guardian reports.
"We know that he communicates a lot with President Putin [...]. We donʼt know what exactly they talk about, but we know that he communicates with him," he explained.
Thus, according to Kellogg, the US is "confident" that its messages are being conveyed to Putin.
Kellogg emphasized that such communication led to the release of some political prisoners, but the "overall goal" was to "resolve Russiaʼs war" against Ukraine.
He also noted that the US is not “naive” about Lukashenko’s rule and “knows that if he releases one prisoner, he will likely “arrest two more”.
Kellogg also added that the deal with Belarus was intended to help its airline, Belavia, repair its planes.
- On September 11, Trump’s envoy John Cole met with the self-proclaimed president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk. The United States lifted sanctions on Belavia Airlines, and in response, Lukashenko released 52 political prisoners. In addition to the Belarusians, they included six Lithuanians, two each from Latvia, Poland, and Germany, one French citizen, and one from the United Kingdom.
- Later, Belarusian media reported that four of the released political prisoners, including Statkevych, refused to leave Belarus. They claimed that their release from prison and subsequent deportation from the country amounted to deportation, which is a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Although Belarus did not sign the Rome Statute, Lithuania, where they wanted to deport the former political prisoners, joined it.
- As Belsat reports, citing Svitlana Tsikhanouskayaʼs advisor Denis Kuchynsky, Statkevych "practically kicked down the door, jumped out of the bus and ran into Belarus". He stood at the border on the Belarusian side for several hours, he was visible on a surveillance camera. His wife, American diplomats and several other people tried to convince him to leave Belarus, but they failed.
- The Lithuanian side claims that Statkevych did not cross the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. One of the released and deported Serhiy Sparysh said that Statkevych is convinced that a true Belarusian leader cannot live outside Belarus.
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