Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is warming up to the West. In one of the most dramatic moments of the diplomatic thaw, 250 former Belarusian political prisoners – many of them visibly thin – stepped out of a bus on March 19 as part of the single largest prisoner release the US has negotiated with Belarus thus far. Belarus released 123 prisoners in December in exchange for an easing of US sanctions. Many of the prisoners from last week’s release had been incarcerated for more than five years, ever since the disputed 2020 presidential election spurred mass protests and a brutal police crackdown in response. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who challenged Lukashenko for the presidency, was forced into exile – first in Lithuania and later in Poland, from where she now continues the fight for a democratic Belarus. US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, called the prisoner’s release "a significant humanitarian milestone and a testament to the President’s commitment to direct, hard-nosed diplomacy".
Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko meets with John Coale, deputy special envoy to US President Donald Trump, in Minsk in this handout picture taken and released by the Belarusian presidential press service on September 11, 2025. © Belarusian presidential press service via AFP
