By Gwladys Fouche and Nerijus Adomaitis
OSLO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - U.S. engagement with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has succeeded in freeing hundreds of political prisoners but has not changed the nature of his authoritarian rule, Belarus' most respected human rights figure told Reuters.
Ales Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, spent 4-1/2 years in prison before being freed and expelled from the country last December in one of a series of deals negotiated by John Coale,
President Donald Trump's envoy on Belarus.
Coale has said he hopes for another big batch of releases in a planned visit to Minsk this month, when he expects to meet Lukashenko for the first time since March.
But Bialiatski, while grateful to Washington for its intervention, said the U.S. strategy of easing sanctions on Belarus in return for prisoner releases was not fostering real change in his country.
He described those jailed on politically related charges as "hostages", a term that Trump has also used.
"It's essentially a pure trade. An exchange is taking place — hostages for a change in sanctions — but this doesn't alter the fundamental nature of the Belarusian regime," Bialiatski, 63, said in an interview during a visit to Oslo.
"While I am glad to be free... the machinery of repression keeps running. Every week we see new political prisoners and new methods of repression."
Lukashenko denies holding political prisoners, describing the people concerned as "bandits".
TRUMP DROPS PREVIOUS U.S. STANCE OF SHUNNING LUKASHENKO
Trump's decision last year to re-engage with Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, marked a sharp change in U.S. policy after years of treating the veteran Belarusian leader as a pariah because of his human rights record and backing for Moscow's war in Ukraine.
However, analysts and opposition figures doubt whether Coale's diplomacy can succeed in peeling Lukashenko away from Putin, given his political and economic dependence on Moscow.
They say that while freeing many prisoners, Belarusian authorities have arrested new ones, in what the opposition describes as a "revolving door".
Coale has claimed credit for the release of 700 to 800 people since mid-2025. But according to Viasna, the human rights group founded by Bialiatski, the net total of political prisoners has only fallen to 888 today from 1,185 at the start of June 2025.
Bialiatski said pressure was also increasing against activists outside Belarus. He himself discovered last month that he had been placed on a "wanted" database by Belarus and Russia, although he did not know why.
BIALIATSKI SAYS EUROPEAN SANCTIONS MUST REMAIN IN FORCE
Bialiatski said the European Union should maintain sanctions on Belarus, including a ban on exports of potash fertiliser, of which Minsk is a major producer.
"As long as the (Ukraine) war continues and Belarus is aiding Russia in it, there are no grounds to discuss a shift in the EU's relationship with Belarus," he said.
Bialiatski predicted that Lukashenko, aged 72 and in power since 1994, would never step aside, for fear of facing criminal charges.
"I think he'll hold onto power until the very end."
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, writing by Mark Trevelyan in LondonEditing by Gareth Jones)
