Trump envoy's Belarus visit is followed by prisoner release

Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Bloomberg News on Jun 21, 2025

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko released 14 imprisoned opposition activists after meeting with a U.S. presidential envoy in the highest-level contact between the two countries in years.

President Donald Trump’s envoy, General Keith Kellogg, visited Lukashenko — an ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin who’s under a range of international sanctions, including by the U.S. — in Minsk on Saturday just before the announcement. Lukashenko pardoned 14 prisoners at Trump’s request, presidential spokeswoman Natalya Eismont said on the Pul Pervogo Telegram channel.

Those freed include Siarhei Tsikhanouski, the spouse of top Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The former prisoners are in Lithuania and receiving care, according to the government in Vilnius.

“You’ve stirred up quite a lot of noise around the world with your visit,” Lukashenko said at the start of the meeting with Kellogg. “But I’m surprised by that — can’t we have a normal dialogue and talk about our affairs, about the relations between Belarus and the United States of America?”

Kellogg is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Belarus in years. When Secretary of State Michael Pompeo went to Minsk in 2020, it was the first visit by a top-ranked U.S. diplomat since 1993.

Releasing Tsikhanouski was based “solely on humanitarian grounds, with the goal of reuniting his family,” Eismont said. She said those released also include citizens of Japan, Poland, Estonia, Sweden and the U.S.

The White House didn’t comment on Kellogg’s meeting or the prisoner release.

Tsikhanouskaya thanked Trump, Kellogg and the European Union after her husband was freed.

European leaders, including EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland, hailed the releases and urged action on those still held in Belarus.

“Yes, it’s good that these people are released but it’s only a handful,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told public broadcaster LRT. “Pressure on the regime must continue. No weakening of sanctions.”

The agenda included international issues, the global situation and U.S.-Belarusian relations, the Belta news agency reported. Lukashenko and Kellogg met for more than six hours, Belta quoted Eismont as saying.

Tsikhanouski, a popular video blogger, was arrested shortly after announcing a bid to challenge Lukashenko for the presidency in 2020. His wife ran in his place as Lukashenko’s main opponent, triggering huge support and subsequent unprecedented protests against Lukashenko’s claim of winning the vote.

Others released on Saturday included political activists and a journalist.

Estonia said one of its citizens, Allan Roio, was among those released. Roio, the founder of a nongovernmental organization, had been held since January 2024.

Lukashenko, 70, has been under various sanctions for nearly a decade due to his role in undermining democracy in the former Soviet republic. He was redesignated by the U.S. under expanded penalties in 2022 in response to Belarusian support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko has been in power for more than three decades and almost 1,200 people in Belarus are recognized as political prisoners, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center.

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(With assistance from Milda Seputyte, Ott Tammik and Olesia Safronova.)