Belarus Releases Five Prisoners Under US-Brokered Deal

Officials said the exchange involved multiple countries and included the release of a prominent Russian archaeologist. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko attends a signing ceremony with Russia's President during a meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, at the presidential palace in Minsk on December 6, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil Grigorov / POOL / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google Belarus has released five prisoners in a US -brokered deal involving Russia , in a rare moment of diplomatic cooperation as Western efforts stall to end the war in Ukraine , officials said on Tuesday. In return, Moscow and Minsk secured the return of several people held in European countries, including the release of a prominent Russian archaeologist held in Poland , according to AFP. Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . “It is the finale of a two-year-long, complex diplomatic game full of dramatic twists and turns,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on X . US special envoy to Belarus, John Coale, said Washington had “helped secure the release” of three Polish citizens and two Moldovans who had been held in Belarus. More than 500 political prisoners have also been released in Belarus after “more than a year” of joint negotiations, Coale told a joint news conference with Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Up to 900 remain behind bars in the country, he added. Among those released is Andrzej Poczobut, a prominent Polish-Belarusian journalist and critic of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Poczobut’s release was announced by Tusk, who wrote on X: “Andrzej Poczobut is free! Welcome home to Poland.” The 53-year-old journalist had been jailed since 2021 and was sentenced in 2023 to eight years in a penal labour camp. He had been working as a Minsk correspondent for the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza daily and was also a member of Belarus’s Polish minority. Other Topics of Interest ‘This Is Not Business’: Zelensky Slams Grain Scheme, Prepares Sanctions Over Israel Shipment Zelensky warns of new sanctions after another ship carrying allegedly stolen Ukrainian grain reaches Israel, urging action against buyers and transporters in the scheme. Following Poczobut’s release, Gazeta Wyborcza journalist Bartosz Wielinski posted a photo of himself and the freshly freed reporter in a car. “The first kilometres of freedom,” he wrote. “We’re heading for Warsaw.” The Belarusian opposition called his arrest an act of “personal vengeance” by the president, with Poland long demanding his release. Poland’s Sikorski said the releases were part of an “international exchange” of detainees between several countries. He confirmed that among those freed on the Polish side was a Russian historian arrested in Poland, who was facing extradition to Ukraine . Russian state media identified the man as Alexander Butyagin , an archaeologist arrested last December and wanted in Ukraine for conducting excavations on Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine has sought his arrest since 2024 with authorities alleging that Butyagin’s team removed nearly two meters of cultural layers without Ukraine’s authorization. The losses are estimated to be about 200 million hryvnias ($4.6 million). According to Russian media, Butyagin was freed along with another Russian citizen. Coale said seven countries apart from the United States were involved in the exchange: Belarus, Kazakhstan , Moldova, Poland, Romania , Russia and Ukraine. “The Republic of Moldova managed to free and bring home two Moldovan citizens in captivity in Russia,” Moldovan President Maia Sandu wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, adding both were “employees of the Intelligence and Security Service.” She added they were exchanged “as requested by the other side” for a Russian citizen “acting against the state of the Republic of Moldova” and a Moldovan citizen “accused of treason in the interest of the Belarusian KGB.” Belarus, a close ally of Russia, heavily repressed political dissent under current President Alexander Lukashenko , after mass protests erupted in 2020 following a disputed presidential election. Many opposition figures, activists and journalists were arrested in the aftermath, and many remain detained. Rights groups say prisoners are often held there on politically motivated charges. “Andrzej did not want to leave Belarus - it is his homeland,” Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said in a statement on Tuesday. Poland’s foreign minister said he had spoken to Poczobut, saying he was “exhausted but in good shape.” “All of Poland is rejoicing at his release,” Sikorski said. “We do not abandon our own.” Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization since 1995. Its international market reach of 97% outside of Ukraine makes it truly Ukraine’s Global – and most reliable – Voice.