US EditionBelarus frees Nobel winner, top opposition figures as US lifts more sanctions
Belarus released 123 prisoners, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, after the U.S. lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash, marking the largest prisoner release since July 2024.
- On Dec 13, U.S. special envoy John Coale announced the United States will lift sanctions on Belarusian potash per the instructions of President Trump after Minsk talks.
- Sanctions stem from Belarus's violent 2020 crackdown and its role in Russia's 2022 invasion, isolating the 9.5 million nation ruled by Alexander Lukashenko for decades.
- Coale said he discussed Russia's war in Ukraine and Venezuela with Alexander Lukashenko and argued Lukashenko's closeness to Vladimir Putin could aid diplomacy, while tasked by President Donald Trump to negotiate over 1,000 political prisoners' release.
- Belarus released 123 prisoners, including Maria Kalesnikava and Ales Bialiatski, in a deal linked to lifting potash sanctions, and Kalesnikava's sister said `I just talked to Maria on video`.
- The decision signals a thaw between the United States and Belarus, a major potash producer, but critics like Franak Viacorka warn easing sanctions risks empowering Russia's war machine or rewarding repression.
283 Articles
283 Articles
Belarus frees prominent political prisoners as US lifts some trade sanctions
BERLIN — In the latest step in a growing thaw with the United States, Belarus on Saturday freed more than 100 prisoners, including two opposition leaders and a Nobel laureate, as the Trump administration announced it would lift sanctions on potash fertilizer, one of Belarus’ largest sources of cash.
The Nobel laureate said he was asked in prison to ask for his gratitude, but refused, adding that he had learned about his early release, wrote Kyiv Independent.Eliberations took place on the basis of a warm relationship between Washington and Minsk and after raising, in November, the sanctions imposed by Belarus Air Company. “In accordance with the instructions of President Trump, the United States will raise sanctions on power”, the US Special…
Belarus has released 123 political prisoners, including prominent oppositionists and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In the German federal government, the joy is great.
The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has declared a pardon for 123 foreign political prisoners after the United States lifted its sanctions against the Belarusian export of potash ore. “In accordance with the agreements reached with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and at his request, regarding the lifting of the illegal sanctions against the Belarusian potash industry imposed by the administration of the former US pr…
Belarus Frees 123 Political Prisoners in US-Brokered Deal
Belarus has freed 123 political prisoners in an unprecedented deal brokered by the United States. The releases were carried out under “agreements reached with U.S. President Donald Trump and at his request,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s office said in a statement posted on its official Telegram channel on Dec. 13. It is also tied to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Belarus’s potash industry, as well as Washington’s commitment to r…
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