By Andrius Sytas and Mark Trevelyan
VILNIUS, March 19 (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 250 prisoners on Thursday in return for a further easing of U.S. sanctions, the U.S. embassy in neighbouring Lithuania said.
The releases were part of a bargaining process in which Lukashenko is seeking a normalisation of ties with Washington after years of isolation and sanctions, in exchange for an easing of repression in the former Soviet state he has led since 1994.
Belarusian human rights group Viasna said before Thursday’s announcement there were more than 1,100 political prisoners in the country.
Among those to be freed was Marfa Rabkova, the coordinator of Viasna’s volunteer network, who was arrested in September 2020 and was serving a sentence of 14 years and nine months for “extremism” and other charges that she denied. Supporters say she has suffered serious health problems while in prison.
The releases were announced after talks in the Belarusian capital Minsk between Lukashenko and John Coale, an envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump.
The U.S. side said it had agreed to drop sanctions on two Belarusian banks and the country’s finance ministry.
Coale said Lukashenko may soon visit the United States, a trip that would mark a breakthrough for the veteran authoritarian leader as he seeks to mend fences with the West after years of being treated as a pariah.
Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, although without sending Belarusian troops to fight there.
(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London and Andrius Sytas in Vilnius, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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