Belarus frees political prisoners after talks

Belarus freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and more than 120 other political prisoners Saturday, capping two days of talks with Washington aimed at improving ties and getting U.S. sanctions lifted on a key Belarusian agricultural export.

- By Yuras KARMANAU

President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners, Belarus’ state news agency, Belta, reported. In exchange, the U.S. said it was lifting sanctions on the Eastern European country’s potash sector.

A close ally of Russia, Belarus has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus who met with Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday, described the talks as “very productive” and said normalizing relations between the two countries was “our goal.”

“We're lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We're constantly talking to each other,” Coale said, adding that the relationship between the countries was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue, the Belarusian news agency said.

Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024. Among the 123 freed Saturday were a U.S. citizen, six citizens of U.S.-allied countries and five Ukrainian citizens, a U.S. official told the Associated Press in an email. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic negotiations, described the release as “a significant milestone in U.S.-Belarus engagement” and an important diplomatic win for President Trump.