Belarusian opposition chief Syarhei Tsikhanouski, along with 13 other detainees, has been released from prison and is now in Lithuania, according to a statement from the neighbouring country’s government.
The release was brokered by U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg, a spokesperson for Lithuania’s prime minister said.
The move is seen as part of ongoing diplomatic pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko’s government, which has faced widespread condemnation over its crackdown on dissent following the disputed 2020 presidential election.
Kellogg earlier met with Lukashenko, the country’s state news agency Belta said.
Tsikhanouski’s wife Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in a post on social media service X thanked U.S. President Donald Trump as well as Kellogg and others for their efforts to secure her husband’s release.
“We’re not done,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on her X account, calling for the release of a further 1,150 prisoners.
Released Prisoners
Five Belarus nationals were released along with three Poles, two Latvians, two Japanese citizens and one Swede, Lithuania said.
Among those released by Belarus was Ihar Karnei, a former journalist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement thanking Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others.
“We thank Secretary Rubio and his team, the Lithuanian government, and the international community for their support of our imprisoned journalists,” he added.
A Belarus court in 2021 found Syarhei Tsikhanouski, a 43-year-old video blogger, guilty of organising mass unrest and of inciting social hatred, and handed him one of the longest jail terms in modern Belarusian history.
His supporters said the charges were fabricated and politically motivated, and his wife has called the verdict political revenge.
His wife ran in the elections in his place, and mass protests broke out after Lukashenko said he’d won the elections. Tsikhanouskaya has since left the country for exile in Lithuania.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Kellogg travelled to Minsk and met with Lukashenko.
(With inputs from Reuters)
