FT: The West Has Made Lukashenka Understand That The Release Of Political Prisoners Is A Payment For Participation In Any Negotiations
- 5.09.2025, 16:41
The key requirement for Minsk remains the same.
The influential British edition of the Financial Times wrote about Lukashenko's efforts to get out from under the Kremlin's influence and establish a dialog with the West.
The article "Can Belarus Step Out of Russia's Shadow?" is among the main publications on the main page of the edition's website today.
Minsk's turn to China could be a way to diversify Belarus' foreign ties without provoking the Kremlin, writes Financial Times.
A Western diplomat quoted by the publication said Lukashenko had begun seeking "some rehabilitation and sanctions relief, including the ability for the national airline to operate commercial flights again." He could also want parts and services for the country's fleet of aircraft, the diplomat added.
Lukashenko had no choice but to return to the "normal cycle" of maneuvering between Putin and the West, the senior Western diplomat said. - While he has been reluctant to engage with Western leaders, possibly due to a combination of his own calculations and pressure from Moscow, the mood in Minsk changed late last summer," the FT reported the Western diplomat as saying.
"We have made it clear that the release of political prisoners is a price to pay for participation in any negotiations," the Western diplomat added.
A European analyst specializing in the region, in turn, told the publication that representatives of Lukashenko's administration have repeatedly invited him and a number of other experts to Minsk, indicating Lukashenko's desire to engage with the West.
Since Trump's inauguration, Lukashenko has met five times with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Eastern Europe Christopher Smith, he told Time magazine.
In June, a visit by the US president's special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg to Minsk led to the release of Tikhanovsky, who was taken at high speed to the Lithuanian border with a bag over his head.
A Western diplomat said Lukashenko, eager to reassert himself on the international stage as something more than just a Kremlin confidant, "wanted to make a gesture."