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Belarus released 25 prisoners on Wednesday in exchange for additional easing of US sanctions, as US envoy John Sullivan told Reuters that it is possible to release hundreds more within a month.
This latest deal resulted from a series of negotiations that lasted more than a year between Sullivan and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
US President Donald Trump tasked Sullivan with securing the release of hundreds of prisoners, including human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and lawyers.
US diplomacy in this matter is highly sensitive because Lukashenko, who has been in power in the former Soviet state since 1994, has long suffered from Western isolation due to his suppression of opponents and support for the Russian war in Ukraine.
Sullivan told Reuters in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where released prisoners were transferred, “This (operation) was very successful. President Trump is very happy about it.”
Sullivan hopes for more releases soon
The number of released prisoners, 25, is much less than the approximately 250 Sullivan negotiated for when he visited Minsk in March.
However, Sullivan said in an interview that he expects to visit the country again in about a month, expressing hope that “hundreds” will be released then.
Viasna, a human rights organization banned in Belarus as an extremist organization, said that many of those released on Wednesday had been sentenced to several years in prison. One of them, journalist Andrei Alexandrov, was serving a 14-year sentence.
Three musicians, arrested in 2022 and whose songs were then described as “extremist materials,” were also released.
An informed source told Reuters that in addition to the 25 prisoners released, a large number of prisoners are expected to be released and will remain in Belarus.
Viasna said that relatives of some detainees were informed that they could collect their loved ones from penal colonies on Wednesday morning.
Lukashenko denies replacing some prisoners with others
Viasna says Minsk still holds 886 political prisoners, but Lukashenko rejects this description and denies the accusations of the exiled opposition that he is constantly arresting more people to replace those who are released.
When asked if he still held onto a previous expectation that all prisoners would be released this year, Sullivan told Reuters, “Well, I think so. I'll try.”
Sullivan, 79, has previously admitted that he sometimes resorts to crude humor to win over Lukashenko and that he secretly poured his glass on the floor to avoid getting drunk during long vodka-drinking sessions.
US lifts sanctions on two Belarusian companies
Sullivan said earlier that the US is lifting sanctions on Lakokrska, a manufacturer of paints and industrial coatings, and BelLesBumprom, a state-owned industrial enterprise overseeing the forestry, pulp, and paper sectors.
He added that he promised Lukashenko on Tuesday to work on getting US banks to return tens of millions of dollars in frozen Belarusian Russian assets.
Sullivan's humanitarian efforts have earned the gratitude of many Belarusians, but human rights groups and opposition politicians say arrests continue and Lukashenko has not yet ended the crackdown.
Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya wrote on X, “Today, alongside our joy for those released, we remember those still behind bars.”
When asked about the remaining obstacles to his diplomacy, Sullivan pointed to the wars in the Gulf and Ukraine.
He said, “Look, if these wars weren't happening, we would have gotten everyone out by next Tuesday. But the wars complicate things for our government, and they complicate things for the Belarusian government and for everyone in the world right now.”
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