Belarus freed high opposition determine Sergei Tikhanovsky and greater than a dozen different political prisoners Saturday following an enchantment from the White Home, Tsikhanouskaya’s staff introduced on Saturday, an indication of warming ties between Washington and Belarus-ally Moscow.
The discharge got here simply hours after retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, President Trump’s particular envoy for Ukraine and Russia, met Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, the highest-profile go to of a U.S. official to the authoritarian state in years.
Tikhanovsky’s spouse Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who took the mantle of the opposition motion after her husband’s jailing, thanked President Trump straight for brokering the deal.
This photograph taken from video launched by the Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Workplace on June 21, 2025, reveals Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, again to digicam, going to hug her husband Syarhei Tsikhanouski, throughout their assembly on the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on June 21, 2025, following his launch by Belarus.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Workplace by way of AP
Lukashenko’s spokeswoman stated the Belarusian chief had ordered the discharge of the prisoners on Mr. Trump’s “request,” Russian state media reported.
“Europe continues to call for their immediate release,” she added.
Poland’s International Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed his “sincerest joy,” whereas Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics referred to as Tikhanovsky’s freedom a “much awaited and long overdue moment.”
“At the same time, we must not forget the many other prisoners in Belarus. Lukashenko must finally release them,” he added.
Pavel Latushko, a former tradition minister in Belarus who supported the 2020 protests in opposition to Lukashenko, additionally hailed Tikhanovsky’s launch as an “important moment”.
Tikhanovsky, 46, had been imprisoned for greater than 5 years.
The favored Youtuber had deliberate to run in opposition to Lukashenko within the August 2020 presidential election, however was arrested and detained weeks earlier than the vote.
He was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years in jail for “organizing riots” and “inciting hatred,” then to a different 18 months for “insubordination.”
Svetlana — a political novice on the time of her husband’s arrest — ran in opposition to Lukashenko in his place however misplaced after what the opposition described as widespread falsification. She later fled Belarus.
“It’s hard to describe the joy in my heart,” she stated in a put up on X following her husband’s launch.
Among the many 13 others freed had been Radio Liberty journalist Ihar Karnei, arrested in 2023 and jailed for taking part in an “extremist” group.
Belarusian journalist and launched political prisoner Ihar Karnei is pictured in Vilnius on June 21, 2025. Lithuanian International Minister Kestutis Budrys stated on June 21, 2025, that 14 freed political prisoners, together with Belarus opposition chief Sergei Tikhanovsky, had been “safe in Lithuania” and “receiving proper care.”
ANDREI SHAULIUHA/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
They’ve now been transferred from Belarus to Lithuania, the place they had been receiving “proper care,” Lithuanian International Minister Kestutis Budrys stated.
Although not one of the launched prisoners wanted emergency medical help, “one of them needed emergency medical attention” as “they were imprisoned in difficult conditions,” Budrys advised the LRT public broadcaster, with out elaborating.
Swedish-Belarusian citizen Galina Krasnyanskaya, arrested in 2023 for allegedly supporting Ukraine, was additionally freed, stated Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
Belarus, dominated by Lukashenko since 1994, has outlawed all real opposition events. It’s the solely European nation to retain the loss of life penalty as a punishment.
The japanese European nation nonetheless holds greater than 1,000 political prisoners in its jails, in response to Belarusian human rights group Viasna.
Since taking workplace, Mr. Trump has engaged in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, ending his predecessor’s coverage of isolating the Russian president.
The 2 nuclear powers have since labored to normalize diplomatic ties, which have for years lingered at their lowest level because the Chilly Struggle.
In February, a U.S. citizen who had been detained in Belarus was considered one of three prisoners freed into U.S. custody. Chris Smith, deputy assistant secretary for Jap Europe, stated on the time that the deal was negotiated by Belarusian authorities and signaled a want by Lukashenko to have a stronger relationship with the U.S.
And in January, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced that Belarus had “unilaterally” freed an American girl from detention.
Tikhanovsky was for years held incommunicado, and in 2023 his spouse was advised that he had “died.”
In a video printed by Viasna on Saturday, he appeared virtually unrecognizable, his head shaven and face emaciated.
A charismatic activist, Tikhanovsky drew the ire of authorities for describing Lukashenko as a “cockroach” and his marketing campaign slogan was “Stop the cockroach.”
Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory within the 2020 election, a end result that sparked huge opposition protests which authorities violently suppressed.
The Belarusian autocrat claimed a report seventh time period in elections earlier this 12 months that observers dismissed as a farce.
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