In Belarus, 52 political prisoners were released on Thursday. Among them are journalist and blogger Igor Losik, philosopher Vladimir Matskevich, anarchist activist Nikolai Dedok, and opposition activist Dmitry Dashkevich. Also released were an entire group of Belsat TV journalists and 14 foreign nationals (including reporters from Latvia, Poland, Germany, France, and the U.K.). Belarusian media outlets and human rights advocates have already published the names of those freed, but representatives for exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya have said the freed prisoners’ identities are still being confirmed.

More about these freed prisoners

Igor Losik was arrested in 2020 and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of inciting social hostility and organizing mass unrest. He rose to public prominence as an administrator of the Telegram channel “Belarus of the Brain” and as a freelance journalist for the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. While imprisoned, on multiple occasions, he declared multiple hunger strikes and harmed himself in protest. His wife, Darya, who campaigned publicly on his behalf, was sentenced in 2023 to two years in prison for “facilitating extremist” activities. The couple divorced while he was in prison.

Vladimir Matskevich was sentenced to five years in prison for organizing protests following Belarus’s contested 2020 presidential election.

A journalist, blogger, and anarchist activist, Nikolai Dedok was twice convicted in politically motivated criminal cases — first in 2011 and again a decade later. After his arrest in 2020, Belarusian security forces tortured and intimidated him, forcing him to record a “confession” video.

Dmitry Dashkevich is a former leader of the opposition movement Young Front. He was repeatedly arrested and convicted after Belarus’s presidential elections in 2006, 2010, and 2020. In 2022, a court sentenced him to prison, while his wife, Anastasia, was placed under house arrest.

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And then there’s Nikolai Statkevich

Thursday’s release also included Nikolai Statkevich, one of Lukashenko’s most steadfast opponents. Now 69, Statkevich has been in the Belarusian opposition since the 1990s. He ran for president in 2010 and was subsequently sentenced to six years for organizing protests. Statkevich refused to request a pardon, but Lukashenko released him anyway, early in 2015, as part of an unofficial political thaw. Barred from running in the 2020 election, Statkevich endorsed opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Months before the vote, he was arrested again and charged with organizing protests, leading to a new 14-year prison term. For the past two and a half years, he has been held incommunicado, cut off from contact with the outside world.

Lukashenko ordered the deportation of the released political prisoners to Lithuania, but Statkevich refused to go. The independent outlet Nasha Niva reported that he remained in the neutral zone at the Kamenny Log crossing, the same checkpoint being used to transport other freed prisoners. Belsat added that some other freed prisoners also did not want to leave Belarus.

Within hours of those images surfacing, Lithuania’s LRT broadcaster — citing Lithuanian border officials — reported that one Belarusian political prisoner had abandoned the neutral zone and returned to Belarus. This was likely Statkevich, according to Belarusian outlets Nasha Niva and Zerkalo. The remaining political prisoners appear to have successfully crossed into Lithuania.

Trump’s man in Minsk

The release of political prisoners was announced on the day of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s meeting with White House representative John Cole, formerly Donald Trump’s attorney and now assistant to his special envoy on Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. At the meeting, Lukashenko reportedly floated a “deal” involving Belarusian political prisoners (“If Donald is willing to take them in, we could try to work out a global agreement”), while simultaneously denying the existence of political prisoners in Belarus (“There are no such [political] statutes in our Criminal Code”).

The U.S. will lift sanctions against the state-controlled airline Belavia and is considering reopening its embassy in Minsk, Cole announced following talks with Lukashenko. He said the U.S. “very much wants to normalize” its relationship with Belarus and is “ready to do everything” necessary, with the lifting of sanctions on Belavia being only a first step. Cole also indicated that Washington seeks the release of additional political prisoners for further normalization with Minsk.

As Zerkalo and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty note, although the U.S. has lifted its sanctions, restrictions imposed by the European Union and the United Kingdom on Belavia remain in place. Moreover, even before 2021 — when the airline fell under Western sanctions — its planes did not fly to the U.S., nor did American carriers operate flights to Belarus. Still, the U.S. move is likely to allow the Belarusian carrier to resume purchases of aircraft and spare parts directly from the West, as well as update its software and navigation databases.

Two leaders, lifting each other up

Thursday’s release of Belarusian political prisoners occurred a month after Lukashenko spoke on the phone — for the first time in his 31 years in power — directly with the U.S. president. Donald Trump called on August 15 while flying to Alaska for a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Trump said they discussed the summit as well as the release of political prisoners. For Lukashenko, the call broke a five-year diplomatic freeze with the West, particularly as the U.S. president both initiated direct dialogue and referred to him as a “highly respected president,” even though Washington has refused to acknowledge the results of Belarus’s most recent presidential election.

A few weeks earlier, Lukashenko had released one of his most prominent political opponents, Sergei Tikhanovsky. He was freed on the same day as Lukashenko’s meeting with U.S. presidential envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who was reportedly in Belarus to establish further contacts regarding the Russia–Ukraine war. Tikhanovsky rose to prominence as a blogger ahead of the 2020 presidential elections. He had planned to run but was barred from being a candidate and subsequently arrested. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, ultimately ran in his place. After the vote, amid widespread protests, she became the unofficial leader of the Belarusian opposition. Tikhanovskaya currently lives in Lithuania, where Tikhanovsky was also taken after his release. Tikhanovsky has pledged to continue the struggle against Lukashenko.

According to analysts and observers, Washington is re-engaging with Minsk as Lukashenko seeks to present himself as an effective mediator in dealings with Putin. Lukashenko has also demonstrated his willingness to make concessions on the release of political prisoners — something that could bolster Trump’s image as a defender of human rights.

After the 2020 protests, the number of political prisoners in Belarus reached 1,500. Lukashenko began gradually releasing some of these people in 2024 — a move experts saw as an attempt to attract Western attention and obtain sanctions relief. Since the summer of 2024, he has pardoned more than 300 people. However, until the release of Tikhanovsky, prominent opposition leaders were excluded, and some released prisoners had just weeks remaining on their sentences. Moreover, repression linked to the 2020 protests continues. The state is still arresting political opponents faster than Lukashenko is pardoning them. Just today, the human rights center Viasna reported eight new political prisoners in Belarus.

Lukashenko has freed the largest group of political prisoners yet, but more than a thousand Belarusians convicted for political reasons remain behind bars. They include 2020 opposition leaders Viktor Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava, and Maksim Znak, as well as journalists like Tut.by editor Marina Zolotova, and human rights activist and Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski. Many are held in harsh conditions, denied visits with family, proper food, and medical care, and face new criminal charges while imprisoned. At least nine political prisoners have died in Belarusian jails since 2020.

Cover photo of Nikolai Statkevich: Michal Fludra / NurPhoto / Getty Images