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Belarus launched 123 political prisoners together with a Nobel peace prize laureate on Saturday after the US agreed to raise sanctions on the nation’s potash exports.
The deal, introduced by President Alexander Lukashenko’s press service, is the most important in a collection of mass amnesties this yr as Belarus seeks a rapprochement with the US beneath Donald Trump.
Unbiased human rights group Viasna mentioned Belarus had freed its co-founder Ales Bialiatski, who shared the Nobel in 2022 with Ukrainian and Russian activists.
Viasna mentioned a number of outstanding leaders of protests towards Lukashenko in 2020 had additionally been freed. Viktor Babariko, a presidential candidate jailed throughout that yr’s marketing campaign, and Maria Kolesnikova, a former flautist who spearheaded the protest, have been amongst these launched.
John Coale, US particular envoy to Belarus, mentioned Trump had lifted sanctions towards the nation’s potash trade, certainly one of its main exports.
“As relations between the 2 nations normalise, extra sanctions can be lifted,” Coale advised reporters after assembly Lukashenko over two days in Minsk, in accordance with state information company Belta.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, mentioned 5 of the freed prisoners have been Ukrainian residents. He mentioned that Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate, had assisted the US in facilitating the discharge. Together with the freed Ukrainians, 109 Belarusian residents have been transported to Ukraine on Saturday afternoon.
Belta mentioned Lukashenko had additionally pardoned residents from the US, UK, Australia, Japan, Lithuania and Latvia “just lately”.
Greater than 1,000 political prisoners stay behind bars in Belarus, in accordance with human rights teams.
Lukashenko, who has dominated Belarus since 1994, is certainly one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Belarus hosted a big contingent of Russia’s preliminary invasion power in 2022 and struck a cope with Putin to retailer nuclear warheads within the nation.
However the US has sought to court docket Lukashenko, whom Trump has known as “extremely revered”, within the hope that the moustachioed former collective farm boss might assist to dealer an finish to the conflict in Ukraine.
The US eased sanctions towards Belarusian airline Belavia in November in change for the discharge of 52 prisoners. These included Siarhei Tsikhanouski, one other former presidential candidate whose spouse Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya sought to problem Lukashenko and has since led the opposition from exile.
Tsikhanovskaya advised the Monetary Instances final month that Lukashenko was attempting to “idiot” the US and had no intention of shifting away from Putin, whose help was essential in cracking down on the 2020 protests.
Coale mentioned on Saturday that Lukashenko had supplied “very sound recommendation” on what the US ought to do about Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
“[Lukashenko] has a protracted historical past of relations with President Putin and is able to supply him recommendation. That is very helpful within the present state of affairs. They’ve been buddies for a few years and have the extent of relationship wanted to debate such issues,” Coale mentioned, in accordance with Belta.
Coale additionally relayed a private greeting from Trump and his spouse Melania to Lukashenko, during which the couple thanked the Belarusian chief for his “hospitality” and “presents”, the information company mentioned.
Extra reporting by Christopher Miller in Kyiv
