(Photo source: X/@Tsihanouskaya)
Vilnius, December 14 (IANS) Belarus has released 123 prisoners, including prominent opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, following an agreement under which the United States agreed to lift certain sanctions imposed on the country.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski is also among those freed after talks held in Minsk with US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.
As part of the arrangement, the US has agreed to lift sanctions on potash, a key ingredient used in fertiliser production and one of Belarus's most important exports.
Belarus is a close ally of Russia, and the easing of restrictions on potash is seen as a significant economic relief for the country.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, however, is not recognised as president by the European Union.
Maria Kolesnikova has been imprisoned since 2020, spending much of that time in isolation.
According to Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Kolesnikova was handed over to Ukraine along with 113 other released prisoners.
In a statement issued on Telegram, Ukrainian authorities said that after receiving the necessary medical assistance, the released prisoners would be transported onward to Poland and Lithuania.
Reacting to the development, exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was waiting outside the US embassy in Vilnius for other prisoners, expressed gratitude to Ukraine.
"Today, I want to send my special thanks to Ukraine -- President Volodymyr Zelensky and Chief of the DIU Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov -- for welcoming 109 political prisoners, our heroes, released and deported from Belarus. We will never forget your openness and solidarity. Slava Ukraini!" she said.
Tikhanovskaya described the prisoner release as the result of "brilliant" US diplomacy combined with "consistent pressure" from the European Union.
"Pressure must continue until repression ends, all prisoners are free & Belarus can begin its democratic future," she said in a post on X.
In another post, she added, "We are one step closer to change in Belarus today. Many of the people who made the 2020 uprising possible are now free. Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava, Maksim Znak, Ales Bialiatski -- they are more than symbols; they are the conscience of our nation. But we are not done yet. More than 1,100 political prisoners remain behind bars, and we will keep fighting for every single one."
The deal marks a major achievement for President Lukashenko, with the authoritarian leader also benefiting from a partial end to his international isolation as a result of renewed engagement with Washington.
Both the European Union and the United States had refused to recognise Lukashenko as president following elections held five years ago that were widely criticised as unfair.
Those polls triggered mass street protests, which were met with a brutal police crackdown.
Hundreds of people were arrested during that period, including Maria Kolesnikova, and the wave of political repression has continued in the years since.
