Overview
- Washington authorized trade with three Belarusian potash companies — Belaruskali, Joint Stock Company Belarusian Potash Company, and Agrorozkvit — after talks led by U.S. envoy John Coale.
- Belarus released 123 political prisoners, including Ales Bialiatski, Maria Kalesnikava, Viktar Babaryko, and Marina Zolotova, with most first transferred to Ukraine.
- Movement to the EU continued this week, with Ukraine facilitating transport and authorities reporting 109 arrivals to Poland and Lithuania, including an additional group of 20 reaching Lithuania on Thursday.
- Lukashenko says a “big deal” with the United States is in reach and has floated a meeting with President Donald Trump, while discussing a possible U.S. embassy return to Minsk and reiterating Belarus’s alignment with Russia.
- The EU is maintaining and expanding sanctions rather than easing them, and a UN expert and rights groups caution that repression persists and that more than 1,100 people remain jailed for political reasons.