Cole Promised That The U.S. Would Help Belarus Recover Millions Of Dollars

The funds are "stuck" in a major U.S. bank.

The U.S. is working to return to Belarus the funds that, according to Alexander Lukashenko, are “stuck” in Citibank. The U.S. side has already asked the bank to unfreeze the funds, as stated by the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for Belarus John Cole during talks in Minsk on September 15.

“I fully and absolutely support your demands. In fact, you are absolutely right. This money must be unfrozen and returned. We have asked the bank to unfreeze these funds. We are currently working out a mechanism for how to do this. As soon as we receive a concrete response from the bank, we will inform you immediately,” Cole said on September 15 during a meeting with Lukashenko (quoted by BelTA).

For his part, Lukashenko stated that “Belarus is open to discussing any issues with the U.S., but agreements must be strictly adhered to.”

The dictator also noted that the parties have already reached a number of agreements concerning economic relations.

“That is why I invited the prime minister, who will brief both you and all of us here on the implementation of our agreements,” he added.

As a reminder, a few days ago Lukashenko publicly demanded that the U.S. return several tens of millions of dollars, which, according to him, are held at Citibank. He claimed that the money had been transferred by a company that had been working with Belarus, but the funds had been frozen. The dictator linked the issue of returning the money to the possibility of an economic deal with Washington.

“If you want our potash fertilizers (if you want to buy them)—go ahead. We can’t (supply large volumes) right away. — Ed. note. — But we’ve now freed up some. We’ve already contracted them for this year; we’ll consider next year. Now there’s an opportunity to load a ship (we’ll definitely finish loading tomorrow)—take it. But pay back the debt. Our $43–44 million is stuck at Citibank—the company that worked with us paid the money. It’s stuck in wealthy America. Please return this money to us,” said Lukashenko.

Citibank is a major American bank that is part of the Citigroup financial group. It operates in dozens of countries and serves both private clients and companies, including international payments and settlements.

As a reminder, On September 15, John Cole arrived in Minsk for another round of talks with Alexander Lukashenko. Representing Belarus in the talks were Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, KGB Director Ivan Tertel, and Belarus’s Permanent Representative to the UN Valentin Rybakov.

The day before, on September 14, John Cole arrived in Vilnius, where he met with the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budris. They discussed efforts to secure the release of political prisoners in Belarus and the security situation in the region.

Trump’s special envoy had previously stated that he expects further releases of Belarusian political prisoners around mid-September. He noted that the U.S. had already secured the release of 500 prisoners, followed by another 200 or so under “pardon” decrees signed by Lukashenko.

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