Belarus releases political prisoners in exchange for US sanctions

Dozens of political prisoners were released from Belarusian prisons as part of a transaction between authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko and US President Donald Trump.

Fifty -two prisoners were released, including heads of trade unions, journalists and activists, but more than 1000 political prisoners remain in prison.

In return, the United States said to release some sanctions at the Belarusian airline, which will allow it to buy details for its airlines.

The prisoner’s release came on the eve of joint military exercises with the participation of Belarus and the close ally of Russia, and after the neighboring Poland called an unprecedented Russian unmanned airspace.

Poland closes its borders from Belarus because of the Zapad-2025 exercises, which last until Tuesday. Latvia closes part of the air space.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the Polish leadership for its “confrontational steps” when closing the border. Meanwhile, the EU foreign policy chief Kaj Kalas warned that “Putin is bullied with the efforts” to fight him.

Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has been headed by Belarus since 1994, rejecting all the opposition, called the release of prisoners as a humanitarian gesture, after meeting with Trump’s special envoy John Koal in the Minsk capital on Thursday.

Both men discussed how they could restore trade relations, including restoring the US Embassy in Minsk.

In February 2022, the United States closed the embassy in the capital after Russian Vladimir Putin used the Belarusian territory to launch its full -scale invasion of Ukraine.

Koyle told Reuters News that he had not yet had a date for resumption of the embassy, ​​but that it would happen “in the near future.”

Belarus seeks to establish economic relations with the United States affected by the raft of Western sanctions because of its connection with the Russian war in Ukraine.

Some sanctions on the national airline Belavia were lifted in return for prisoners, US officials say.

The airline was sanctioned after the Belarusian flight ordered the Ryanair Reaction reagent, which was traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk in 2021, and then police arrested journalist Raman Protasevich.

Many political prisoners of Belarus have been in prison since Lukashenko severely pulled protests in Belarus in 2020, after he declared victory in the presidential election, which was widely convicted as rigged.

“Americans take a very constructive position on so-called political prisoners. We do not need political prisoners and any other prisoners,” said Lukashenka’s state official agencies.

52 prisoners, pardoned Thursday, joined 314 others, released since July 2023, trying to mitigate Belarus and the US relations, Human Rights Watch reports.

Another 14 prisoners were pardoned and released in June Visit of the Special Messenger to the USAIncluding Sergei Tikhonovsky, husband of the exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhonovskaya. Thirteen others were released and forced into exile.

Tikhonovskaya met some of the released prisoners when they crossed the border to neighboring Lithuania, where President Gitanas Vagaz thanked President Trump for his efforts to release them. He said they left behind “barbed wire, prohibited windows and constant fear.”

Among the 52 released were 69-year-old philosopher Vladimir Matskevich, journalist Igor Losik and senior opposition figure Nikolai Stitevich, who was a presidential candidate in 2010.

Olga Zazulinsky, an employee of opposition opposition opposition, wrote on social networks that their liberation became good news for their families and friends, but noted that they were receiving their freedom in exchange for expulsion rather than returning home.

In her first words, after his release, former journalist Larisa Shkhirakova said that she had actually served all three years in prison – and now they kicked me out. “

Mikola Statkevich, a veteran -Dissiden, refused to move to Lithuania, and the opposition opposition Belarus posted his photos sitting on the ground on the border. Tikhonovskaya stated that he reportedly returned in Belarus, and she said: “Every Belarusian has the right to live without repression and state terror in his country.”

Viana Human Rights Group said that 52 released 52 released in 52. The wife of a British diplomat was detained at the border when she entered Belarus last year and received a long prison term last week. BBC asked for a UK foreign service.

Last month, President Trump said he was talking to Lukashenko about the possible exit of the prisoner, while he also sought to improve relations with Vladimir Putin.

Despite the fact that his summit with Putin met without obvious success, Trump seems to have secured a deal with Lukashenko, which has spent decades isolated from his European neighbors from his authoritarian government.