Belarus Releases Political Prisoners in Sanction Relief Deal with the US

Sat Sep 13 2025 11:13:18 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

In a surprising move, Belarus has released 52 political prisoners as part of an agreement with the US to ease sanctions. The action comes amid military tensions and aims to improve bilateral relations.

In a significant shift in diplomatic relations, Belarus has freed 52 political prisoners, including prominent trade union leaders, journalists, and activists, in exchange for eased US sanctions on the Belarusian airline Belavia. This release, framed by President Alexander Lukashenko as a humanitarian effort, coincides with ongoing military drills conducted with Russia and is seen as a step to improve strained ties with the West. The US has responded by indicating a willingness to forge a renewed trade relationship.

Dozens of political prisoners have been freed from Belarusian prisons as part of a deal between authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko and US President Donald Trump.

Fifty-two prisoners have been released, including trade union leaders, journalists, and activists, but more than 1,000 political prisoners remain in jail.

In exchange, the US has said it will relieve some sanctions on Belarusian airline Belavia, allowing it to buy parts for its airplanes.

The prisoner release came on the eve of joint military exercises involving Belarus and close ally Russia, and after what neighbouring Poland called an unprecedented Russian drone incursion into its airspace.

Poland is closing its borders with Belarus because of the Zapad-2025 drills, which last until Tuesday. Latvia is closing part of its airspace as well.

Russia's foreign ministry condemned Poland's leadership for its confrontational steps in closing the border. Meanwhile, the EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, told the BBC World Service's Newshour that Putin is mocking the efforts by the West to deal with him.

Lukashenko, who is 71 and has led Belarus since 1994, quashing all opposition, described the release of the prisoners as a humanitarian gesture, after meeting Trump special envoy John Coale in the capital Minsk on Thursday.

The two men discussed how they could re-establish a trade relationship, including reopening the US embassy in Minsk.

The US closed its embassy in the capital in February 2022 after Russia's Vladimir Putin used Belarusian territory to launch his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Coale told news agency Reuters that he did not yet have a date for the embassy's reopening but that it would happen in the very near future.

Belarus is eager to build an economic relationship with the US having been hit with a raft of Western sanctions because of connection to Russia's war in Ukraine.

Some of the sanctions on national airline Belavia have been lifted in return for the prisoner releases, US officials say.

The airline was sanctioned after Belarusian flight controllers ordered a Ryanair jet traveling from Greece to Lithuania to land in Minsk in 2021, and police then arrested journalist Roman Protasevich.

Human rights group Viasna said UK-Belarus dual citizen Julia Fenner was also among the 52 freed. The wife of a British diplomat, she was detained on the border as she entered Belarus last year and was given a long jail term last week.

Many of Belarus's political prisoners have been in jail since Lukashenko brutally stamped out protests in Belarus in 2020, after he claimed victory in presidential elections widely condemned as rigged.

The 52 prisoners pardoned on Thursday join 314 others released since July 2023 in an attempt to soften Belarus's relationship with the EU and the US, according to Human Rights Watch.

Another 14 prisoners were pardoned and released in June during the visit of a US special envoy, including Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of exiled Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. Thirteen others were released and forced into exile.