"Lukashenka cannot even be called Putin's junior partner." Keith Kellogg spoke about Lukashenka's role in US-Russia negotiations
Alexander Lukashenka is not even a junior partner for Vladimir Putin, the Belarusian army does not represent a serious force, and the partial lifting of Washington's sanctions was an exclusively pragmatic step for the release of political prisoners. This was stated by Keith Kellogg, former US Special Representative for Ukraine and now co-chairman of the Center for American Security at the "America First" Policy Institute, answering a question from a journalist of the "Zerkalo" (Mirror) publication at the Warsaw Security Forum.
Recently, Donald Trump proposed transferring John Cole, who was involved in the Belarusian direction, to the position of Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. At the current Warsaw Security Forum, a "Zerkalo" journalist asked Keith Kellogg whether this means that Belarus and political prisoners are no longer a priority for the US, and Lukashenka is no longer needed by Washington for contacts with Putin.
Kellogg called the release of people a specific goal that Washington successfully achieved. At the same time, he skeptically assessed the significance of the Belarusian politician for Russia.
"Belarus and Lukashenka are by no means main partners for Putin. I mean, he cannot even be called a junior partner. They do not have strong armed forces," the American general stated.
Kellogg explained the lifting of some American sanctions by exclusively pragmatic reasons.
"We prefer that 'Boeing' planes don't fall from the sky. And so we said we would perform certain services under certain conditions - if they release political prisoners," Keith Kellogg said.
He also shared details about his negotiations with Lukashenka and how the release of Belarusian political prisoners took place.
"The first group of political prisoners we pulled out of there at that moment thought they were being taken to be shot. In fact, they were hooded until we brought them to the border. Eventually, we removed these hoods from them and told them that they were now free. This was a kind of quick exchange with Lukashenka, and I had the opportunity to come to him and talk. Frankly, he himself told me about it, so we could talk separately — about how he made Yevgeny Prigozhin stop his march [on Moscow] in 2023. It was very interesting to hear that from him, but I was more concerned about the release of political prisoners. And on that matter, I also received a good answer," said Keith Kellogg.
On June 21, 2025, Keith Kellogg, who at that time held the position of US Special Representative for Ukraine, visited Minsk and held negotiations with Alexander Lukashenka. After this, 14 political prisoners were released, including Sergei Tikhanovsky.
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