Kellog helped score a win for the peace efforts by the Trump administration.
While the situation in the Middle East keeps escalating, with unpredictable developments ahead, there are many other aspects of the US foreign policy unfolding, and some bring a great deal of hope of a better tomorrow.
After a visit by Donald J. Trump’s Special Envoy Keith Kellog to Belarusian leader Lukashenko, no less than 14 political prisoners have been released, including Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a leading Belarus opposition figure.
Tsikhanouski was freed on yesterday (22), after more than five years in prison. He was driven across the border into Lithuania and reunited with his wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the exiled Belarus opposition.
Five Belarusians, three Poles, two Latvians, two Japanese, one Estonian and one Swede were freed in total.
Watch:
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko met with US Presidential Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg in Minsk pic.twitter.com/4pDqMhCp2l
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) June 21, 2025
Reuters reported:
“Lukashenko issued pardons for all those released on Saturday in response to a U.S. request, his spokeswoman Natalya Eismont said. In a statement, she said the Belarusians who were freed had been ‘convicted of extremist and terrorist activity’.
She said the decision to release Tsikhanouski was ‘taken by the president strictly on humanitarian considerations with the aim of family reunification’.”
Here, @Tsihanouskaya heard her husband Siarhei Tsikhanouski’s voice for the first time in 4.5 years – after 2 years and 3 months of complete incommunicado detention.
“Yes, we’ll see each other soon.
Listen, [things are] already better now. I’m so happy to hear your voice!
I… pic.twitter.com/wTvOeBaoe4— Franak Viačorka (@franakviacorka) June 21, 2025
“[Spokeswoman] Eismont said Kellogg’s talks with Lukashenko had begun on Friday evening and lasted 6-1/2 hours over dinner, covering the Ukraine conflict, the Middle East, relations between Russia, Belarus and China, and sanctions policy.
‘It was night when it ended’, she said. ‘The subjects discussed were as current as can be imagined. They talked about things that concern the entire world’.”
My husband Siarhei is free! It’s hard to describe the joy in my heart.
Thank you, @POTUS, @SPE_Kellogg, @JohnPCoale, DAS Christopher W. Smith, @StateDept & our allies, for all your efforts.
We’re not done. 1150 political prisoners remain behind bars. All must be released. pic.twitter.com/MhngqBHFq3
— Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (@Tsihanouskaya) June 21, 2025
“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the release was ‘fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka (sic) regime’.”
Dear Sviatlana @Tsihanouskaya, this is fantastic news and a powerful symbol of hope for all the political prisoners suffering under the brutal Lukashenka regime.
Europe continues to call for their immediate release. https://t.co/NSXw6gfBSm
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) June 21, 2025
Read more:
