By Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration and Belarus are discussing the possible release of at least 100 political prisoners by Minsk soon, three sources familiar with the matter said, in an ongoing rapprochement between the U.S. and the Russian ally.
While the authoritarian state has freed dozens of detainees in several waves since President Donald Trump took office in January, U.S. officials want to secure the release of well over 100 prisoners in a single deal, the sources
said in recent days, requesting anonymity to describe sensitive diplomatic conversations.
In the largest prisoner release to date, Belarus freed 52 people in September. Western human rights organizations say Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's government holds more than 1,000 political detainees, including former presidential candidates and Nobel Prize winners.
It was not clear which prisoners could be freed and precisely when such a release might happen. The White House declined to comment, and the Belarusian embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration's push for the biggest prisoner release so far is part of its controversial campaign to thaw relations with the authoritarian state in exchange for the prospect of sanctions relief.
Some U.S. officials have told Reuters that the Trump administration's engagement with Belarus is part of a long-term, broader strategy to pull Minsk out of Moscow's geopolitical orbit, if only marginally.
Even a subtle realignment toward the West would represent a strategic victory given that Belarus has long been a consistent irritant for NATO and a stalwart ally of Russia.
Most European countries have kept Minsk at arm's length given Belarus' deep ties with Russia and its poor human rights record. The EU last month tightened its sanctions against Belarus.
Among the key U.S. figures in the talks is John Coale, whom Trump named as special envoy to Belarus earlier this month, the sources said.
In recent months, Trump and his emissaries have spoken directly with Lukashenko, while the U.S. Treasury Department has started to lift some Belarus-related sanctions.
Lukashenko has released prisoners of various nationalities in exchange for those overtures including pardoning 31 Ukrainians over the weekend who were held on various criminal charges.
Lukashenko facilitated Russia's expanded invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and in recent weeks large balloons launched from Belarusian territory have entered Lithuanian airspace, causing that country's major airport to issue groundstops.
In September, the Czech Republic and Poland both expelled Belarusian diplomats for alleged espionage.
The State Department praised Trump's leadership and Coale's efforts but did not comment on any future detainee releases.
"The United States stands ready for additional engagement with Belarus that advances U.S. interests and will continue efforts to free political prisoners in Belarus," a spokesperson said.
EUROPE WARY OF WASHINGTON'S MINSK STRATEGY
Many European diplomats, spooked by a U.S. push in recent days to impose a Moscow-friendly peace deal on Ukraine, are wary of any rapprochement between Washington and the Kremlin ally. They argue the nation of 9 million is a Russian satellite state inherently aligned with its larger neighbor.
Following the September prisoner release, Lukashenko proposed building a nuclear power station in eastern Belarus that could provide electricity to Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine.
Despite the recent detainee releases, Belarus has not stopped its politically motivated arrests.
It was not clear precisely what the U.S. would offer Lukashenko in exchange for a prisoner deal, and the negotiations around the release could fail.
One measure that U.S. officials informally discussed this year is the easing of U.S. sanctions on Belarus' potash sector. Belarus is a major global supplier of the fertilizer ingredient.
Coale, the Belarus envoy, has said publicly that the U.S. wants to reopen its embassy in Minsk, which closed in 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Osterman)
