By Andrius Balčiūnas, LRT.lt.
Belarus still holds about 1,300 political prisoners, but the release of 52 detainees last week has triggered the first significant thaw in years between Minsk and Washington. Could this mark a turning point for Belarus and a potential realignment? Observers are sceptical.
Last Thursday, 51 freed prisoners unexpectedly arrived in Lithuania, some of them foreign nationals but also Lithuanian citizens. One released prisoner, the veteran opposition leader Mikalai Statkevich, refused to leave Belarus and returned home.
In exchange, the United States announced it would lift sanctions on the state-owned airline Belavia and expressed interest in reopening its embassy in Minsk.
“This is a clear signal that [President Alexander] Lukashenko’s regime is trying to recalibrate its relations with the West, especially the United States, while still keeping close to the Kremlin,” Maryna Rakhlei, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told LRT.lt.
Birthday greetings from the Trumps
The deal came during a visit by John Coale, a special envoy of President Donald Trump, who personally delivered birthday greetings signed by Donald and Melania Trump to Lukashenko. Analysts said the gesture amounted to tacit recognition of the Belarusian leader, who has clung to power through repression since the violent crackdown on mass protests in 2020.
Read more: LRT.LT
