Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — a close ally of Russian strongman Vladimir Putin — released 123 prisoners Saturday, including opposition figures, journalists, activists and Ukrainian prisoners of war, in a deal brokered by the Trump administration.
In return, the US is lifting Biden-era sanctions on Belarusian potash — a key export and the country’s most significant mineral resource.
President Trump began talks earlier this year with the authoritarian leader, who was slapped with US and EU sanctions in 2021 for his violent crackdown on protesters following a disputed election in 2020 — sanctions which were tightened after he allowed Belarus to serve as a staging ground for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of released Belarusian prisoners, smiles surrounded by his supporters as he arrives at the US Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP
Bialiatski speaks to journalists after his release. AFP via Getty Images“Per the instructions of President Trump, we, the United States, will be lifting sanctions on potash,” US special envoy John Coale said Saturday, following a meeting with Lukashenko.
“This is a very good step by the US for Belarus,” Coale said.
Among those released is prominent opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, a leader of mass protests against Lukashenko in 2020.
The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, a Belarusian human rights activist who fought for political prisoners before becoming one himself in 2011, was also freed.
Maria Kolesnikova hugs a woman after her release from detention in Belarus, at the Ukrainian Belorussian border on Dec. 13, 2025. AP
Belarusian opposition leader and political activist Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks to journalists at the US embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania on Saturday. AFP via Getty ImagesOther prisoners included five Ukrainian civilians detained in Belarus and accused of working for the special services, said Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, who helped carry out the release.
Around 1,000 political prisoners remain in Belarus and could be released in the coming months, Coale said.
“I think it’s more than possible that we can do that, I think it’s probable. … We are on the right track, the momentum is there,” he said, adding that if no political prisoners remained, most of the sanctions could be removed.
“I think it’s a fair trade.”
Most of those released — 114 prisoners in total — were taken to Ukraine, and nine went to Lithuania, officials said.
The released Belarusian citizens will then be taken to Poland and Lithuania.
A man sits in a bus after been released from detention in Belarus, at the Ukrainian Belorussian border on Dec. 13, 2025. AP
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council on the sidelines of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27. AP
A woman holds a flag of the Belarusian People’s Republic coat of arms at the US embassy on Dec. 13. AFP via Getty ImagesLukashenko, who’s ruled Belarus since 1994 with an iron fist, has seeked to improve relations with Washington as of late, in an attempt to lift his country from onerous sanctions.
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