Belarus has released 123 political prisoners, including leaders of the 2020 protests.

Alexander Lukashenko agreed to this as part of an agreement with US President Donald Trump and at his request, “in connection with the lifting of illegal sanctions against the potash industry.” Today, a few hours before the news of the release of political prisoners, the US announced that it was lifting sanctions against Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilisers, which had been in place since 2021. 114 of the 123 released prisoners were taken to Ukraine. The Belarusian authorities are effectively deporting all political prisoners who have been released in recent years — immediately after their release, these people are simply taken out of the country.

Usually, they were taken to Lithuania, but this time most of those released were sent to Ukraine. The office of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said that Lukashenko changed the route for transporting political prisoners at the last minute and that Ukraine was not prepared to receive them. Tikhanovskaya thanked the Ukrainian authorities for “quickly mobilising and being able to accept our relatives and loved ones.”

Lukashenko’s press secretary Natalya Eismont said that the political prisoners were sent to Ukraine “in exchange for wounded Russians and Belarusians who were captured there.” However, the Ukrainian project “I Want to Live,” which participated in the transport of political prisoners, rejected the information that this was an exchange. “This is not true,” representatives of the Euro Radio project told Euronews. Among those released was Maria Kolesnikova, one of the leaders of the 2020 Belarusian protests, who spent 1,808 days in prison. Shortly before her release, she was transferred from the colony to a pre-trial detention centre so that she could gain weight and “look more presentable,” wrote the newspaper Nasha Niva.

The Belarusian human rights centre Viasna reported that Kolesnikova had been taken to Ukraine. “I feel incredibly happy. <…> At the same time, I think about those people who are still not free. I am really looking forward to the moment when we can all hug each other and see each other,” Maria said after her release.

Viktor Babariko, former head of Belgazprombank and Lukashenko’s rival in the 2020 presidential election, has also been released. Babariko was detained two months before the election. Kolesnikova, who was the coordinator of his election campaign, subsequently became one of the main figures of the protest. She herself was detained a month after the election and at first they tried to forcibly remove her from Belarus, but she tore up her passport at the border. After that, Kolesnikova was imprisoned. She and Babariko were sentenced to 25 years in prison. In prison, they were both kept incommunicado, i.e. without contact with the outside world.

Babaryko was also taken to Ukraine. He has already met with Maria Kolesnikova and Maxim Znak. He is another member of Babaryko’s election campaign team. Like Kolesnikova, he was convicted in September 2021. Znak received a 10-year prison sentence and was also held incommunicado.

Another person released is Ales Beliatski, head of the Belarusian human rights centre Viasna and winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, which he received jointly with Memorial and the Ukrainian Centre for Civil Liberties. Bieliatski was detained in the summer of 2021. He was accused of illegally transporting money across the border and financing the 2020 protests, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He received the Nobel Peace Prize while in custody, but before he had been convicted.