Belarus's self-proclaimed president Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 123 political prisoners after a meeting with US president's Special Envoy to Belarus John Coale, including one of the country's most high-profile detainees,

OSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya ‌accused ​President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday of using ‌political prisoners as bargaining chips and said the U.S. needs to use both incentives and ​pressure as it negotiates with the veteran authoritarian leader.

In a significant diplomatic agreement, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko released 123 prisoners, including Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski, in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions on potash.

More than 100 of the criminals pardoned by the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko were sent to Ukraine in exchange for wounded Russians and captured Belarusians. This was announced on December 13 by the press secretary of the Belarusian president Natalia Eismont.

Trump has started to ease U.S. sanctions on Belarus and last month ​named a special envoy, John Coale, to pursue further negotiations with Lukashenko on the release of political prisoners. Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is holding hundreds of Lithuanian trucks at the border and demanding political concessions in exchange for their release, sparking warnings from opposition figures that neighboring countries like Poland may be next.

Kalesnikava, now 43, was a flautist who spent 12 years living in Germany before making what she called an unlikely and unexpected entry into politics.