In an unexpected behind-the-scenes move, a US senior diplomat has held a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the New York Times reported on Saturday, describing it as very "below the radar" and as part of longshot efforts at wooing Belarus away from Moscow.
The meeting happened Wednesday, involving Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Christopher W. Smith meeting with President Lukashenko in the capital of Minsk, to jump-start potential improved bilateral relations, also in context of the Trump administration trying to rapidly pursue a Ukraine peace deal with President Putin.
It was the first such meeting with a top State Department official traveling to Minsk in a half-decade, the newspaper noted.
Smith has described efforts to strike a "grand bargain" in hopes of gaining the return of an imprisoned American citizen, and it has apparently begun with some success, per the NY Times report:
After talks with Mr. Lukashenko, Christopher W. Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and two other American officials drove to a village near the border with Lithuania. There, courtesy of the Belarusian KGB, three people who had been jailed — an American and two Belarusian political prisoners — were waiting to be picked up.
As darkness fell, the Americans and the freed prisoners drove back across the border to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Speaking outside the U.S. Embassy there on Wednesday evening, Mr. Smith hailed the successful completion of what he called “a special operation,” describing the prisoners’ release as a “huge win and a response to President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.”
Journalist Andrey Kuznechyk and activist Alena Maushuk were freed, with the US citizen not having been identified at this point.
The "grand bargain" would seek the return of more political prisoners, and in exchange Washington could ease longtime sanctions on Belarus, specifically on Belarusian banks and the country's key export product - potash (used in fertilizer).
Washington first shuttered its embassy in response to Belarus' role in hosting Russian troops and military assets during the Feb. 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Belarus has been met with growing isolation from Washington and the West, particularly going back to the Bush administration when it was declared by the US to be the "last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe."
In January of this year Lukashenko extended his 31-year rule with another 5-year term win in a landslide election which the exiled opposition and its western backers called a 'sham' vote.
As the United States feuds with its ally Germany, relations are thawing between the Trump administration and ... wait for it ... Belarus. https://t.co/kBTBK34oLr
— Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) February 15, 2025
As for these new diplomatic effort by the US, it is likely the Kremlin had to give its blessing, since Russia and Belarus have long formed a 'Union State' based on tight economic, trade, and military ties. Putin and Lukashenko have visited each other several times throughout the Ukraine war, and Belarus even hosts Russian tactical nukes on its soil, overseen by Russian military officers.
