Belarus has released 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions, according to Al Jazeera.
The prisoners were freed following talks between Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and John Coale, the US special envoy for Belarus, the report said.
Earlier, the United States lifted sanctions on Belarusian potash exports. Shortly afterwards, the Belarusian authorities released the detainees. Belarus is one of the world’s largest producers of potash, a key component in fertiliser production.
US President Donald Trump appointed John Coale as special envoy on Belarus last month, tasking him with negotiations aimed at securing the release of more than 1,000 political prisoners held in the former Soviet state.
President Lukashenko is widely regarded as a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The European Union does not recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus.
