Belarus frees 25 prisoners in exchange for the US lifting some sanctions, envoy says

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The U.S. special envoy for Belarus said Wednesday that the country’s authorities have agreed to release 25 prisoners as part of a deal that includes the lifting of U.S. sanctions against some Belarusian companies.

John Coale, President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, made the statement a day after meeting Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who pushed for the remaining U.S. sanctions against his country to be lifted.

“25 prisoners are free today!” Coale said on X, adding that “President Trump’s commitment to direct diplomacy delivers results.” He also thanked Lukashenko and authorities in Lithuania, a European Union member that neighbors Belarus, for their support.

“We will continue to improve U.S.-Belarus relations and are working to secure the release of more people in the very near future,” Coale said. “We are not finished!”

Belarusian state news agency BELTA quoted Coale as saying Wednesday that the parties reached significant progress during Tuesday’s talks and that the U.S. will lift sanctions imposed on two Belarusian companies.

Belarusian authorities haven’t announced any details of the prisoners’ release yet.

Lukashenko has governed the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned repeatedly by Western countries — both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Since Trump returned to the White House for his second term, Lukashenko has released hundreds of political prisoners in a series of U.S.-mediated deals that also lifted some U.S. sanctions.

Speaking before the meeting with Coale, Lukashenko said that he’s open for discussing “a deal big or small.” Lukashenko also said that he would like to discuss the prospects for lifting more U.S. sanctions and exporting Belarusian fertilizers to the U.S.

As part of a deal in March that Washington helped broker, Lukashenko ordered the release of 250 political prisoners, while the U.S. agreed to lift sanctions on two Belarusian state banks and the country’s Finance Ministry, and to remove the top Belarusian potash producers from a sanctions list.

Another deal in April released prominent journalist Andrzej Poczobut in a swap with Poland that saw a total of 10 people freed.

Lukashenko’s rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest a vote they viewed as rigged. In an ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures fled the country or were imprisoned.

Five years after the mass demonstrations, Lukashenko won a seventh term last year in an election that the opposition called a farce.

The Belarusian opposition has welcomed Coale’s efforts as an important humanitarian mission, but emphasized that Lukashenko’s government has jailed more political prisoners.

Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Tuesday she was deeply grateful to Trump, Coale and the U.S. administration for “making political prisoners a priority,” adding that “their engagement has already brought real results.”

But she emphasized that “repression continues” and Lukashenko “continues supporting Russia’s war.”

“The purpose should be to empty the prisons, not to rehabilitate the dictatorship,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Belarus still has 887 political prisoners, according to the Viasna human rights center.