Belarus frees Nobel Prize laureate Bialiatski, opposition figure Kolesnikova as US lifts sanctions

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Belarusian authorities on Saturday freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski and key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova from prison, a human rights advocate confirmed to The Associated Press.

Their release comes as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko seeks to improve relations with Washington. In exchange for sanctions relief, Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners, the Belta state news agency reported. The U.S. earlier on Saturday announced lifting sanctions on the country's potash sector.

A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024.

John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus, announced the lifting of sanctions on potash after meeting Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday.

Speaking with journalists, Coale described the two-day talks as ''very productive,'' Belarus' state news agency Belta reported Saturday. He said that normalizing relations between Washington and Minsk was ''our goal.''

''We're lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We're constantly talking to each other,'' he said, according to Belta. He also said that the relationship between the countries was moving from ''baby steps to more confident steps'' as they increased dialogue.

Bialiatski and Kolesnikova among those released

Human rights advocate Bialiatski won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties.

Bialiatski, awarded the prize while in jail awaiting trial, was later convicted of smuggling as well as financing actions that violate public order — charges widely denounced as politically motivated — and sentenced to 10 years in 2023.

Authorities said Bialiatski, who founded Viasna, Belarus' oldest and most prominent human rights group, was seen as especially dangerous because of what the authorities alleged were his ''extremist tendencies.'' The 63-year-old has been imprisoned at a penal colony in Gorki in a facility that is notorious for beatings and hard labor. Bialiatski's wife said his health was deteriorating and he has multiple chronic illnesses.

A U.N. panel of human rights experts has called on Belarus to release him.

Kolesnikova was a key figure in the mass protests that rocked Belarus in 2020, and is a close ally of an opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

The 43-year-old professional flautist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison. She fell seriously ill behind bars and underwent surgery.

The release of prisoners is part of a deal

The last time U.S. officials met with Lukashenko in September 2025, Washington announced easing some of the sanctions against Belarus while Mink released more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania. With that September release, the number of prisoners freed by Belarus since July 2024 exceeded 430, in what was widely seen as an effort at a rapprochement with the West.

''The freeing of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is seeking to ease them,'' Tsikhanouskaya told the AP on Saturday.

She added: ''But let's not be naive: Lukashenko hasn't changed his policies, his crackdown continues and he keeps on supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. That's why we need to be extremely cautious with any talk of sanctions relief, so that we don't reinforce Russia's war machine and encourage continued repressions.''

Sanctions have hit the key Belarus export hard

Belarus, which previously accounted for about 20% of global potash fertilizer exports, has faced sharply reduced shipments since Western sanctions targeted state producer Belaruskali and cut off transit through Lithuania's Klaipeda port, the country's main export route.

''Sanctions by the U.S., EU and their allies have significantly weakened Belarus's potash industry, depriving the country of a key source of foreign exchange earnings and access to key markets,'' Anastasiya Luzgina, an analyst at the Belarusian Economic Research Center BEROC, told AP.

''Minsk hopes that lifting U.S. sanctions on potash will pave the way for easing more painful European sanctions; at the very least, U.S. actions will allow discussions to begin,'' she said.

The latest round of U.S.-Belarus talks also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta reported.