US EditionBelarus frees Nobel winner, top opposition figures as US lifts more sanctions
- 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.
275 Articles
275 Articles
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…
Associated Press News
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and others who took on Belarus' president are among the freed prisoners
Belarusian authorities have freed 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figures Maria Kolesnikova and Viktar Babaryka, as part of a deal with Washington that lifted U.S. sanctions on the Eastern European country’s vital fertilizer exports.
Regime opponents breathe after the release of oppositionists. But the US diplomacy makes their situation hopeless.
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