During the meeting with Lukashenko in Minsk, Cole proposed lifting sanctions on the companies Lakokraska and Bellesbumprom in exchange for the release of 25 people.
Later, on September 16, he wrote on X: “25 prisoners were released today! President Trump’s commitment to direct diplomacy is producing results. Thank you, President Lukashenko, for this step... We will continue to improve US-Belarus relations and are working to secure the release of more people in the very near future”.
According to Zerkalo, among those released were TUT.BY CEO Lyudmila Chekina, founder of the cultural project Art Sadyba and the national symbols and souvenirs store Symbal.by Pavel Belous, journalist and media manager Andrey Aleksandrov, political scientist Tatyana Kuzina, director of the news agency BelaPAN Dmitry Novozhilov, journalist Kirill Poznyak and his daughter Yanina Poznyak, as well as publisher Dmitry Kolos.
According to the publication, this same list also included musicians from the band Tor Band Yevgeny Burlo, Dmitry Golovach and Andrey Yaremchik, a member of the band Stary Olsa Alexander Chumakov, as well as Irina Zlobina, Pavel Petruchenya, Yevgeny Yushkevich, Yana Pinchuk, Elena Lazarchik, Denis Salmanovich, Ilya Veremeyev, Sergey Ryabtsev, Svetlana Yakubovich, Anastasia Lazarenko, Andrey Tsalyuk, Olga Stroeva and Kirill Gnezdilov.
The day before, Cole said that the US was ready to unfreeze $43–44 million for Lukashenko, stuck in the American Citibank, and said that this money should be returned. On September 11, Lukashenko himself claimed that about $43–44 million, transferred to him by a company cooperating with Belarus, were stuck in Citibank, called it a disgrace for the US, and said that the government had reported the situation to him in writing.
Cole’s talks with Lukashenko were not his first contact with the Belarusian authorities: earlier he had already invited Lukashenko to the US and conveyed that Donald Trump treats him with respect and considers him one of his friends among world leaders.
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