Belarus Frees 52 Political Prisoners in U.S.-Brokered Deal

Belarus freed 52 political prisoners on Thursday, including 14 foreign citizens, in a deal brokered by the United States, according to the government of Lithuania, which said it received those released.

The move was the latest gesture by Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belarus’s longtime authoritarian leader and a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in his effort to normalize relations with the Trump administration.

In exchange for the release, the United States will lift sanctions on Belarus’s national airline, Belavia, which were imposed in 2023, said John Coale, a U.S. envoy who was in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Mr. Coale added that the State Department hoped to reopen its embassy in Minsk, which was closed days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Among the prisoners freed were six Lithuanian citizens, two each from Latvia, Poland and Germany, one French citizen and British national, according to Belta, the Belarusian state news agency.

“I am deeply grateful to the United States and personally to President @realDonaldTrump for their continued efforts to free political prisoners,” President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania wrote on social media.

During his visit to Minsk, Mr. Coale, the deputy to Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, met with Mr. Lukashenko. In a televised portion of the talks, Mr. Coale presented Mr. Lukashenko with a letter from Mr. Trump and made the announcement about lifting sanctions.