Trump explains why the US is talking to Lukashenko

The agreement between the United States and Belarus was primarily about "ensuring open channels of communication" with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, not about releasing political prisoners of the regime of his Belarusian "colleague" Alexander Lukashenko. This was stated by the special envoy of the US president Keith Kellogg during the Warsaw Security Forum.

"Well, I think we all know who President Lukashenko is, and we understand what's going on in Belarus. [...] To president Trump's credit, he has reached out to a lot of different people to try to find some kind of solution to this war [Russia against Ukraine]. And we want to make sure that we have multiple avenues of approach, not just one. And Lukashenko, we know, talks a lot with president Putin. We're not sure what exactly he [Lukashenko] says, but we know he talks to him [Putin]," the U.S. official said.

At the same time, he acknowledged that if Lukashenko releases one political prisoner, he "probably will take two more," but noted that through the agreement with the dictator, the United States "established a relationship to ensure that the channels of communication were open, so we could be sure that all our messages were reaching president Putin.".

"That was the reason why we did it. Initially, we did not go there to release political prisoners. They started with 14, then got more during the last visit. And he [Lukashenko] has more than 1000 political prisoners. And their release is a positive side of what is happening," the special envoy added.

He reiterated that the overall goal of U.S. engagement with Lukashenko was not to free the regime's prisoners, but to find the best way to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Kellogg also noted that through such contacts, Washington can make sure that the messages it sends to Putin are consistent with what it conveys through other channels.

"I don't care if it's [the Russian dictator's special representative] Kirill Dmitriev. I don't care if it's [Putin's adviser] Ushakov. I don't care if it's Lukashenko. The point is to make sure that these messages reach the addressee. So understand why we are doing this," the US official emphasized.

• On September 11, dictator Lukashenko released 52 Belarusian political prisoners in exchange for lifting some US restrictions on the state-owned airline Belavia.
• Aviation expert Khrapchynskyi explained LIGA.net that it is not really about lifting sanctions against the Belarusian airline, but about a targeted license with a number of clear conditions.