TALLINN, Estonia (AP) 鈥� Belarus鈥� authoritarian President Alexander on Thursday ordered the release of 250 political prisoners as part of a deal with Washington that lifted some U.S. sanctions, the latest step in the isolated leader鈥檚 effort to improve ties with the West.
Lukashenko pardoned the prisoners after meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, in the Belarus capital of Minsk. Coale hailed the release as a 鈥渟ignificant humanitarian milestone鈥� and a testament to Trump鈥檚 鈥渃ommitment to direct, hard-nosed diplomacy.鈥� It marked the largest one-time release of political prisoners in the country.
Coale told reporters that the U.S. will lift sanctions from two Belarusian state banks and the country’s Finance Ministry, and that the top Belarusian potash producers have been removed from a sanctions list.
Belarus’ opposition leader-in-exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, hailed the prisoners’ release as 鈥渁 moment of great relief and hope.鈥�
鈥淎fter years of isolation, people are now free and can finally embrace their loved ones,鈥� Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press. 鈥淭here is nothing more powerful than seeing someone who endured unjust imprisonment reunited with their family.鈥�
She thanked Trump and his officials for their “tireless efforts to secure the release of political prisoners,” adding that 鈥渢hese humanitarian efforts are saving lives.鈥�
The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko, in December, Washington announced the easing of sanctions on Belarus’ potash sector, a key source of export revenue, and 123 prisoners were released and sent to Ukraine and Lithuania.
A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced isolation for years. Lukashenko of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been sanctioned 鈥� both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Lukashenko鈥檚 rule was challenged after a 2020 presidential election, when tens of thousands to protest a vote they viewed as rigged. They were the largest demonstrations since Belarus became independent following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
In an ensuing crackdown, tens of thousands were detained, with many beaten by police. Prominent opposition figures either fled the country or were imprisoned.
Five years after the mass demonstrations, last year in an election that the opposition called a farce.
More recently, Belarus has freed some political prisoners to try to win favor with the West. Since Trump returned to the White House last year, Lukashenko has released dozens of prisoners, including and key dissident figures , .
Trump spoke to Lukashenko by phone in August 2025 after one such and even suggested a face-to-face meeting in what would be a big victory for the Belarusian leader, who has been dubbed 鈥淓urope鈥檚 Last Dictator.鈥�
Dzianis Kuchynski, an adviser to Tsikhanouskaya, said that 15 of the 250 prisoners arrived in Lithuania following their release.
They included Valiantsin Stefanovich and Marfa Rabkova of the prominent Belarus human rights group Viasna. Stefanovich was serving a nine-year sentence on charges of smuggling money to finance activities violating the public order after his arrest in 2023. Rabkova was sentenced to 14 years and nine months following her 2020 arrest and conviction on charges of organizing riots and inciting hatred, accusations widely seen as a punishment for documenting human rights abuses.
Nasta Loika, 37, an activist with the international rights group Human Constanta, was also released. She was sentenced to seven years in prison after her arrest in 2022 on charges of organizing mass unrest and inciting hatred – charges widely seen as retaliation for her activism.
Also freed was Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 32, who also goes by the last name of Andreyeva, a journalist of the Polish-funded Belsat TV channel who was arrested in 2020 while covering mass anti-government protests in Minsk. She was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on convictions for violating public order and treason.
Eduard Palchys, a 35-year-old opposition blogger, was also among those pardoned by Lukashenko. He was convicted of causing harm to Belarus鈥� national security and organizing mass unrest over his role in coordinating the demonstrations in 2020. and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Like previously released prisoners, they were all sent to Lithuania without passports or other identity papers. Kuchynski denounced it as a 鈥渕ockery鈥� by Belarusian authorities seeking to make the lives of the released prisoners more abroad more difficult.
Just before the latest announcement of releases, the Viasna group had estimated that there were more than 1,100 political prisoners in the country.
Tsikhanouskaya emphasized that 鈥渕any people are still behind bars鈥� and “our goal remains unchanged 鈥� to free them all and to put a final end to repression, so that every Belarusian can live freely in their own country.鈥�
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