US to lift sanctions on Belarus airline as Lukashenko frees 52 prisoners, including foreigners

Belarus has freed 52 prisoners of different nationalities after a U.S. delegation negotiated their release, the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius said on Sept. 11, according to Reuters.

The freed group, the largest one so far under Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko's regime, crossed safely into Lithuania, President Gitanas Nauseda confirmed.

Among them were opposition figures, journalists, protesters, and foreign citizens, he added. According to Mediazona, one of those freed was Belarusian opposition politician Nikolai Statkevich.

According to Belarusian media, 14 were foreign nationals, including six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Poles, two Germans, one French citizen, and one from the U.K.

Among those released from a Belarusian penal colony was 33-year-old journalist Ihar Losik, who was arrested in June 2020 and sentenced to 15 years in one of the country's harshest facilities, the Novopolotsk colony.

Losik was the founder of the Telegram channel Belarus of the Brain and had worked with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Also freed were Belsat TV journalist Irina Slavnikova, sentenced in 2022 to five years on charges of "creating an extremist group," and journalist and editor Pavel Mozheyko, who received a six-year sentence in 2023.

The announcement came during the visit of U.S. presidential envoy John Cole to Minsk.

After meeting Lukashenko, Cole said Washington would lift sanctions on Belavia, Belarus's state airline, which had been under restrictions since August 2023.

Reuters cited a  U.S. embassy spokesperson in Vilnius, who said that the U.S. will allow Belavia to "service and buy components for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft."

Cole added that the U.S. also hopes to reopen its embassy in Minsk, though no date was set.

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The envoy described the talks as "very productive" and said relations between Belarus and the U.S. are "good, but not the best."

Lukashenko, in turn, thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for a gift of cufflinks depicting the White House. "Interesting cufflinks with the White House image on them," he said, adding that he will "try not to be in his debt."

The move follows the July release of opposition leader Siarhei Tsikhanouski after Lukashenko met U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg.

Tsikhanouski, a blogger and political prisoner, had been sentenced to 18 years in prison on politically motivated charges.

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, allowed Russian forces to launch attacks on Ukraine from Belarusian territory at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

The Belarusian dictator is widely regarded as Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally.

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