VILNIUS: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday (Dec 13), together with Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and main opposition determine Maria Kalesnikava, after two days of talks with an envoy for President Donald Trump, a US assertion mentioned.
In return, the US agreed to elevate sanctions on Belarusian potash. Potash is a key element in fertilisers, and the previous Soviet state is a number one international producer.
The prisoner launch was by far the largest by Lukashenko since Trump’s administration opened talks this yr with the veteran authoritarian chief, a detailed ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Western governments had beforehand shunned him due to his crushing of dissent and backing for Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Bialiatski, co-winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, is a human rights campaigner who fought for years on behalf of political prisoners earlier than turning into one himself. He had been in jail since July 2021.
