After Kellogg's visit to Lukashenko, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition was released from prison
supplemented
Topopositionist Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had been in captivity since 2020, has been released from prison in Belarus. This became possible as a result of a visit by US President's special representative Keith Kellogg to dictator Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian opposition newspaper "Nasha Niva" reports.
Sergei Tikhanovsky is the founder of the anti-Lukashenko YouTube channel "Country for Life", one of the main figures of the Belarusian protest of 2020. That year, the Belarusian Central Election Commission denied the man registration, and his wife Sviatlana became a presidential candidate – she is still the leader of the opposition in exile.
Tikhanovsky was arrested by Lukashenko's security forces in May 2020 and later sentenced to 18 years in prison. He spent more than five years in captivity.
Video of Tikhanovsky's meeting with his wife:
Kellogg's deputy, John Cole, reported that a total of 14 political prisoners, citizens of various countries, were freed and are in Lithuania.
Among those released are journalists from the Belarusian service of the American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Igor Losyk and Igor Karney.
UPDATED. Lukashenko's spokeswoman, Natalia Eismont, reports that 14 political prisoners have been released at the request of US President Donald Trump. In addition to Belarusians, these are two Japanese, three Poles, two Latvians, as well as citizens of Estonia, Sweden and the United States.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budris reports that more than 1,000 prisoners of the regime remain in Belarusian prisons: "They all must be freed without delay."
New videos – Tikhanovskaya with her husband and other released prisoners at the US Embassy in Vilnius:
- This is not the first time the United States has used prisoner releases in negotiations. In February, before the first post-inauguration phone call between US President Trump and Russian dictator Putin, Washington and Moscow exchanged prisoners.
- On the afternoon of June 21, Trump's special envoy Kellogg met with dictator Lukashenko in Minsk.
- Kellogg became the highest-ranking American official to visit the authoritarian state in recent years.
- On the eve of the visit, Reuters reported that the US President's special envoy would visit Minsk as ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia remain deadlocked.
