Vodka, special envoy and freedom: how Trump's men negotiated with Lukashenko

One June dawn for fourteen prisoners in Belarus began with anxiety. Their heads tied up in bags, the uncertainty of their route - everything pointed to the worst. Among them was opposition activist Sergei Tikhanovsky, whose arrest in 2020 triggered the largest protests in the country's recent history.

But when the bus stopped at the Lithuanian border and the KGB officers removed the bags from their heads, a man appeared in front of them with an unexpected greeting:

"President Trump sent me to take you home."

It was John Coale, Donald Trump's personal lawyer and deputy special envoy for Ukraine. In Coale's own words, "they were terrified ... to realise you're out there is a special moment."

As Politico notes, the release was a goodwill gesture on the part of Alexander Lukashenko and part of a cautious diplomatic thaw between the U.S. and Belarus after a five-year freeze in relations.

However, the path to freedom for these men was through highly unusual channels. Alexander Lukashenko did not meet with either the secretary of state or high-ranking official diplomats. Instead, he was referred to Koal, a veteran litigator who had previously sued tobacco corporations and, in 2021, social media for "wok censorship."

In April, Coale accepted a surprise trip to Minsk despite his lack of diplomatic experience. He arrived accompanied by several American diplomats and on the way to the capital even changed the licence plates on his car to avoid attracting attention.

At the Palace of Independence, he had lunch with Lukashenko himself. According to Koala, he was asked to "put the president at ease," and he managed it: "Lukashenko talked about the State Department, and I played along - he loves it."

"He's smart, and he seems to really want to improve relations with the U.S.," Coale added.

In the midst of the dinner, Lukashenko's personal brand of vodka appeared on the table. The first toast was to Trump and the second was to Lukashenko.

Koal noted, "I did two shots, I didn't throw up, but I didn't go for a third round."

These toasts were a prelude to a serious move. The same evening, the Belarusian side handed over to the American delegation a naturalised U.S. citizen Juras Ziankovich, previously convicted for allegedly preparing a coup d'état. The U.S. did not know about this step until the last moment.

Later, in June, Belarus released 13 more prisoners, including Sergei Tikhanovski. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an exiled opposition leader, was returning to Vilnius that day. She did not expect to hear her husband's voice on the phone after two years of silence.

"When I heard Sergei's voice, it was a huge surprise," she said. "His words were simple: 'Darling, I'm out'."

According to Artyom Shreibman of the Carnegie Endowment, Lukashenko is eager to return to the centre of geopolitical attention. "He wants to be part of the Ukraine negotiations. That in itself is a prize." But, as the expert clarifies, "with his deep dependence on Putin, the US will not be able to truly 'untie' him from Russia."

Nevertheless, according to Tikhanovskaya, "Belarus could become a success story for President Trump. A free and independent Belarus is also in the interests of the United States."

Koal, however, looks at the situation more simply: "I'm only interested in one thing - whether I can free someone else. Let Marco Rubio worry about the rest.