Belarus frees 31 Ukrainians under a deal with the US as sanctions ease; move linked to efforts to support Ukraine conflict resolution
MOSCOW: Belarus, a close Russian ally, pardoned 31 Ukrainian citizens, state TV said on Saturday, as part of an agreement between President Alexander Lukashenko and US counterpart Donald Trump.
Trump has pushed Belarus to free political prisoners in contacts with Lukashenko, who has ruled since 1994 and stamped out free media and political opposition.
In exchange, Washington has partly lifted sanctions on Belarus’s state carrier Belavia, allowing it to service and buy parts for its fleet, which includes Boeing aircraft.
“The president has pardoned 31 Ukrainian citizens who committed criminal offences on the territory of our country,” Lukashenko’s spokeswoman Natalia Eismont told state TV.
Ukraine had confirmed the release, saying it “managed to return 31 citizens who were being held in the Republic of Belarus to Ukraine.”
The civilian prisoners were facing sentences ranging from to two to eleven years and some of them were suffering serious illnesses, including cancer, Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said.
The pardon, which was requested by Ukraine, was a result of “the agreements reached between US President Donald Trump and President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko,” Eismont said.
The move was aimed at “creating conditions for the settlement of the armed conflict in the neighbouring state,” the spokeswoman added, referring to the war in Ukraine.
Belarus has typically charged people who oppose or criticise the government with “extremism”, meting out years-long prison sentences. It was not immediately clear what the freed Ukrainians had been charged with.
Earlier, Lukashenko had freed dozens of political prisoners, including prominent dissidents, journalists and clerics.
There were more than 1,000 political prisoners still remaining in Belarusian prisons, according to rights groups. – AFP
