Belarus frees 52 prisoners after Trump appeal, US eases some sanctions on Minsk
It was the biggest batch of prisoners yet pardoned by Lukashenko, who is seeking to repair relations with the United States after years of isolation and sanctions on his former Soviet state.
Belarus released 52 prisoners of various nationalities today (11 September) after an appeal from US President Donald Trump, and they headed to Lithuania with the US delegation that negotiated their release, the US embassy in Vilnius said.
Trump had called on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to release detainees whom the US leader has described as "hostages". Belarus later confirmed their release.
In return for Lukashenko's gesture, Washington will grant sanctions relief to Belarus' national airline Belavia, allowing it to service and buy components for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft, the US embassy spokesperson in Vilnius said.
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It was the biggest batch of prisoners yet pardoned by Lukashenko, who is seeking to repair relations with the United States after years of isolation and sanctions on his former Soviet state.
But it was far short of the 1,300 or 1,400 prisoners whose release Trump had called for in a conversation with Lukashenko last month and in subsequent social media posts.
Those released include Ihar Losik, 33, a journalist sentenced in 2021 to 15 years in a penal colony on charges of inciting hatred and organising riots, the Belarus affairs section of the US embassy in Vilnius said.
The embassy could not immediately confirm whether prominent critics of Lukashenko's decades-old rule, such as human rights campaigner Ales Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, were among those released.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the exiled Belarus opposition whose husband Siarhei was released from jail in June, said today's release covered only 4% of those designated as political prisoners, and did not signal any real change of policy by Lukashenko.
"We welcome their release, but in essence, this is a trade in human lives - people who should never have been imprisoned in the first place," Tsikhanouskaya said in a statement released to Reuters in which she urged the European Union to maintain sanctions on Belarus until democracy is established.
Belarus' state news agency Belta said those released included 14 foreign nationals - from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, France, Britain and Germany.
'Rare act of personal friendship'
Belta quoted John Coale, a lawyer who headed the US delegation, as saying Trump had told Lukashenko that Washington wants to reopen its embassy in Minsk.
Coale had earlier passed a letter from Trump in English to Lukashenko signed "Donald", Belta showed. The fact that Trump had signed the letter simply Donald was "a rare act of personal friendship", it quoted Coale as saying.
"If Donald insists that he is ready to take in all these released prisoners, God bless you, let's try to work out a global deal, as Mr Trump likes to say, a big deal," said Lukashenko, who praised the US leader for seeking a peace deal in Ukraine.
"Our main task is to stand with Trump and help him in his mission to establish peace," Belta later quoted Lukashenko as saying, referencing Trump's assertion that he has resolved six or seven world conflicts.
Lukashenko has led Belarus through more than three decades of authoritarian rule. He said as recently as August 22 that he was not prepared to release "bandits" who might "wage war" against the state.
Trump has said he plans to meet Lukashenko, long treated as a pariah by the West, and described him as a "very respected man, strong person, strong leader".
The prisoners were released a day after Poland shot down what it said were Russian drones over its territory, and on the eve of joint military exercises involving Russia and Belarus.
Belarus shares borders with three NATO countries and with Ukraine. Lukashenko let Putin use Belarusian territory when invading Ukraine in 2022 but the Belarusian army has not directly participated in the war.
Vytis Jurkonis, a Belarus human rights activist who leads the Vilnius office of Freedom House, a US government-funded human rights advocacy organisation, told Reuters that Lukashenko was using the prisoners to leverage his own influence.
"Lukashenko is dragging out the release of the political prisoners because he does not have much else to trade with the West. At the same time, he is continuing to arrest more prisoners," Jurkonis said.
"He is using the releases to uphold the illusion of change in Belarus, but the real change would be happening if terror in the country ceases, the exiles are allowed to return, the Russian army leaves."
Lukashenko says there are no political prisoners in Belarus and that those behind bars are law-breakers who chose their own fate.
