Belarus has released 52 political prisoners, including foreign nationals, following a visit by a US delegation, and in return to sanctions relief on its national air carrier. Thursday’s release was the biggest during President Alexander Lukshenko’s rule and is part of Minsk’s efforts to mend ties with Washington and ensure the lifting of some of the US-imposed sanctions. Among the released prisoners are 14 foreign nationals – one Briton, one French national, six Lithuanians, two Germans, two Poles, two Latvians – as well as Belarusian political prisoners.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday that all prisoners, as well as the US delegation, had crossed into Lithuania.
“No man left behind! 52 prisoners safely crossed the Lithuanian border from Belarus today, leaving behind barbed wire, barred windows and constant fear,” Nauseda wrote on X. In return for Lukashenko’s pardoning of political prisoners, Washington will lift sanction imposed on Belarus’s national airline Belavia, the US embassy spokesperson in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius said. The sanction relief will allow the airliner to service and buy components for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft. Concessions from the US came a day after NATO forces downed multiple Russian drones that had illegally crossed into Poland’s airspace – some from Belarus. Poland also announced on Tuesday that it would close its border with Belarus as of Thursday in response to large-scale joint Russia-Belarus drills to be held on Polish border.
The US has welcomed the release of prisoners by Belarus and called for the release of the remaining 1,300 others, a Trump administration official said. Moreover, Belarus state agencies cited the head of US delegation, John Coale, as saying that US President Donald Trump had told Lukashenko that Washington wants to reopen its embassy in Minsk.
Belarus’ exiled opposition leader Tsikhanouskaya criticized sanctions relief on Belarus, warning that the move could open loopholes to enable Minsk and its ally Moscow to circumvent western sanctions. "We understand that this is part of the deal," she told The Associated Press. "But lifting sanctions without systemic changes in the country could open loopholes that both the Lukashenko regime and Russia will use to circumvent the sanctions."
Lukashenko has been seeking to mend ties with the US since Donald Trump took office in January. In June, he released opposition figure Syarhei Tsikhaouski following a visit to Minsk by the US presidential envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg. Tsikhaouski had been imprisoned for nearly five years after mobilising anti-Lukashenko protests before 2020’s contested election.
