Rzeczpospolita: Lukashenko ready to release political prisoners if US eases sanctions

The regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is negotiating with American diplomats to release additional political prisoners in exchange for easing sanctions. This is reported by Rzeczpospolita, citing three independent interlocutors.

According to them, it is about releasing "more" political prisoners who may be deported to one of the European countries. According to the interlocutors, 1300 prisoners of the regime were mentioned in the conversations – this is the number of political prisoners in Belarus now, according to the banned human rights center Wiosna.

Pavlo Sapelka, the group's lawyer, claims that about 30 political prisoners are in critical condition and need immediate medical care.

"These are people who can lose their lives behind bars at any time. There are 190 names on the list of people with serious health problems," he told Rzeczpospolita.

According to the interlocutors, Belarus expects restrictions on Belavia to be lifted after the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane in 2021 and the detention of former editor-in-chief of the NEXTA telegram channel Roman Protasevich and the Soligorsk plant Belaruskali.

According to one of the interlocutors, Lukashenko is seeking to establish good relations with US President Donald Trump, because he "wants to get out of isolation.".

• on June 21, US Special Envoy Kellogg met with Lukashenko in Minsk. After that, Sergei Tikhanovsky, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, was released from prison..
• On August 15, Trump said that had a "great conversation" with Lukashenko and called him "a highly respected president of Belarus." Trump thanked the dictator for releasing 16 prisoners and discussed the possibility of releasing another 1,300 people.