The Trump administration just pulled off a diplomatic win that the previous crowd couldn't manage in four years.
Belarus released 123 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and multiple American citizens, after the United States agreed to ease trade sanctions on the Russia-aligned nation, the Daily Caller reported.
The breakthrough came after John Coale, President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, spent Friday and Saturday meeting with Aleksandr G. Lukashenko at the autocratic president's palace in Minsk. Sometimes you have to sit down with unsavory characters to get Americans home.
The catalyst for this diplomatic achievement was Washington's decision to remove sanctions on potash, a critical ingredient in fertilizer production. For Belarus, potash isn't just another export—it's a key revenue stream that keeps the economy running. The Trump administration understood that leverage works both ways, and when you want something, you need to offer something in return.
Coale made it clear this is just the beginning. "As relations between the two countries normalize, more and more sanctions will be lifted," he told reporters. That's the art of the deal—start small, build trust, and keep the momentum going.
The envoy described his weekend meetings with Lukashenko as "very productive," which in diplomatic speak means actual progress happened. "We talked about the future, about how to move forward on a path of rapprochement between the U.S. and Belarus to normalize relations," Coale said. "That's our goal."
Among those freed was Maria Kolesnikova, a prominent activist and Belarusian opposition leader who became a symbol of resistance. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ales Bialiatski, also walked free, proving that when America negotiates from strength, even authoritarian regimes make concessions.
The released prisoners represent a diverse group of nations. According to the U.S. Embassy to Belarus, the freed individuals include citizens from the United States, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan. That's the kind of coalition-building that actually matters—getting allies' people home, not just endless committee meetings.
This release stands in stark contrast to the previous administration's approach of strongly worded statements and symbolic gestures. Results matter more than rhetoric, and 123 freed prisoners represent tangible results.
Let's not kid ourselves about who we're dealing with here. Lukashenko previously allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to station forces in Belarus, essentially turning his country into a staging ground for Moscow's military operations. Russia even launched 25 missiles at targets in northern Ukraine from Belarusian territory in July 2022.
The Russian proxy state designation isn't just political posturing—it's an accurate description of Belarus's role in regional geopolitics. But geopolitical realities don't mean we can't pursue diplomacy when American lives hang in the balance.
Critics will inevitably complain that lifting sanctions rewards bad behavior. They'll say we're legitimizing an autocratic regime aligned with Putin. Maybe they'd prefer those 123 people stay locked up while we maintain our moral purity from a distance.
The beauty of this deal is its straightforward nature—no grand multilateral frameworks, no endless negotiations, just direct talks that produced concrete outcomes. When you empower decisive envoys and give them clear objectives, things actually happen.
The progressive foreign policy establishment spent years talking about human rights and democratic values while Americans rotted in foreign prisons. This administration walked into a dictator's palace and walked out with results. Which approach actually served American interests?
As Coale indicated, this is a process, not a one-time event. Further normalization could bring more sanction relief and, presumably, more progress on other issues. That's how diplomacy works when you're focused on outcomes rather than optics.
