Belarus frees 123 political prisoners as US lifts potash ban

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the release of 123 political prisoners, pushing high-profile opponents into exile hours after a U.S. envoy announced that Washington will lift sanctions on the country’s potash industry.

Lukashenko pardoned the group following two days of talks with President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Belarus, John Coale, whose comments on potash were reported by the state-run Belarusian news service Belta.

Exiled human rights center Viasna said those freed on Saturday included Maria Kalesnikava, a flute player who became one of the public faces of pro-democracy protests and was jailed for 11 years in 2021. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2023, was also freed and forcibly deported to Lithuania, Viasna said.

While authorities haven’t released a full list of those released, Viasna reported that it also included ex-banker Viktor Babariko, who attempted to challenge Lukashenko; Maksim Znak, a lawyer who worked in Babariko’s opposition campaign; and several journalists and human rights activists.

Kalesnikava, Babariko and Znak were among 104 of the freed Belarusians transferred to Ukraine, according to the “Khochu Zhit” project, a joint center for prisoner swaps set up by the Ukrainian Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the government in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that five Ukrainian citizens were also among those freed in the U.S.-brokered deal.

The announcements follow Trump’s push to rebuild ties with the authoritarian Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who allowed Russian troops to invade Ukraine from Belarusian territory in 2022.

Potash is one of Belarus’ key exports and its only abundant mineral resource, with Belaruskali, Russia’s Uralkali and North American producers Nutrien and Mosaic the four largest global suppliers. After the U.S. sanctioned Belaruskali in 2021, Belarus redirected potash sales through Russia, increasing Lukashenko’s economic dependence on the Kremlin.

“With Russia’s market for Belarusian products shrinking and competition intensifying, Minsk begins to see value in restoring some relations with the Western world,” said Artyom Shraibman, nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.

The U.S. removal of sanctions may do little to weaken Belarus’ dependence on Russia for potash transit unless the European Union lifts its own ban. EU restrictions over the war forbid the flow of Belarus-made potash through Lithuania, once the key export hub for the fertilizers, to the Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda.

“There are no discussions at the EU level about easing sanctions against the Belarusian regime,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said. “The release of political prisoners is an important diplomatic achievement but Lithuania’s position remains unchanged: Belarus’ actions are causing significant damage to the security of Lithuania, the EU and NATO.”

Trump named Coale, his former lawyer, as envoy last month, and asked Lukashenko, whom he described as “Highly Respected,” to consider releasing more prisoners.

The U.S. ending potash sanctions is a good move for Belarus and “we are lifting them now,” Coale told reporters in Minsk. More sanctions will be lifted as U.S.-Belarus relations normalize, he said.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry said that journalist Andrzej Poczobut wasn’t among Saturday’s released prisoners. Freeing the reporter and minority activist has been one of the Warsaw government’s key demands of Belarus.

More than 1,200 detainees in Belarus were recognized internationally as political prisoners before the latest decision, according to Viasna.

Coale met in September with Lukashenko, who pushed 52 political prisoners into exile abroad. The president acknowledged Trump’s focus on the issue, saying he was ready to reach “a big deal” on further releases, even as his security services continued to make new arrests.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced it was removing Belarus’ state-owned Belavia Airlines from its sanctions list at the same time as the earlier prisoner releases were announced.

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, Siarhei, whose imprisonment prompted her to challenge Lukashenko in 2020 presidential elections, was among 14 activists freed in June. That came after Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg visited Lukashenko in Minsk, the highest level contact between the two countries in years.

The thawing of ties between Washington and Minsk comes as the EU has accused Belarus of waging hybrid attacks on Lithuania with incursions of weather balloons carrying contraband that repeatedly force the closure of the airport in the capital, Vilnius.

Lithuania declared a state of emergency this week over the balloons. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is “preparing further measures” against Belarus under its sanctions regime, calling the situation “completely unacceptable.”

Lukashenko, 71, has ruled over Belarus with an iron fist for more than three decades with political and economic support from Russia in return for loyalty as part of a so-called Union State. Putin announced in 2023 that Russia had moved tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus amid the confrontation with the West over his war in Ukraine.

Lukashenko faced an unprecedented challenge in 2020 when pro-democracy protests erupted after the election that Tsikhanouskaya was widely perceived to have won. The U.S., the EU and the U.K. all rejected Lukashenko’s claim that he won the election with 80% and sanctioned his regime over a brutal police crackdown.

Opposition leaders were jailed and thousands of people fled Belarus.

Tsikhanouskaya has in exile lobbied world leaders to increase pressure on Belarus to free political prisoners while criticizing their forced deportation. She said the opposition is asking the U.S. to help negotiate conditions that would allow activists to return home and rebuild the country.

“What we underline to our American partners is that our goal is to secure irreversible changes in Belarus,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “Only the end of repressions can bring political stability.”

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(With assistance from Eric Martin and Agnieszka Barteczko.)