Three detainees, including a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, have been released by Belarus as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to lay the basis for negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
"We can confirm the safe release of one American and two individuals from Belarus," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters on February 12. Leavitt did not name the American who had been released, but said it was "a remarkable victory on the heels of Marc Fogel returning to America last night."
Fogel, an American teacher held in Russia since 2021, was freed on February 11 in a prisoner swap for confessed Russian cybercriminal Aleksandr Vinnik. He celebrated his release at the White House with Trump, who said it was an indication of Russia's "good will in terms of the war" in Ukraine.
The White House also described the prisoner releases as a sign of a diplomatic thaw that could help advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.
A White House statement said the American released by Belarus was the 11th freed from captivity abroad since Trump took office on January 20. Special envoy for hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, said that Trump “has made bringing Americans home a top priority and people respond to that.”
RFE/RL President & CEO Stephen Capus said earlier on February 12 that RFE/RL journalist Andrey Kuznechyk had been reunited with his family in Lithuania.
“This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, Alesya, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President [Donald] Trump,” Capus said in a statement, noting the efforts of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Lithuanian government.
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RFE/RL President Says Kuznechyk’s Freedom Marks A Win, But Other Journalists Remain Jailed
Kuznechyk was arrested on November 25, 2021, and initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected. After serving that penalty, Kuznechyk was not released but charged again, this time for allegedly creating an extremist group.
Kuznechyk was arrested amid a crackdown on protests over the 2020 presidential election that saw long-time authoritarian ruler Aleksandr Lukashenko emerge with his sixth consecutive term. The opposition and Western governments say the vote was rigged.
Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave Belarus after the election over safety fears, said Kuznechyk's release was "wonderful news."
Tsikhanouskaya, who filled in when her husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, was arrested and jailed during his presidential campaign, said on X that activist Alena Maushuk was the other Belarusian released on February 12.
Maushuk was detained in 2020 and sentenced the following year to six years on a charge of taking part in mass riots.
Franak Viachorka, an aide to Tsikhanouskaya, said on Facebook that Maushuk "is in a difficult physical and psychological condition."
Viachorka described Maushuk as a “brave and humble woman” who spent more than four years behind bars.
“She lost her health, but not her humanity. Thank God -- now she is free,” he said, adding that Maushuk described “all the horrors that she had to go through" while being driven to a "safe place."
Maushuk said she was given little notice ahead of her release. She was informed while on her dinner break from her factory job that her pardon had been considered and there was an agreement to release her on the condition that she leave Belarus.
According to Maushuk, she was forced to put a mask over her eyes before being escorted to the border with Lithuania by guards. Only when they arrived at the border was the mask removed and her passport returned.
Rubio called the two Belarusian detainees "political prisoners" and thanked the Lithuanian government for its assistance. He said the third person freed was an American but did not identify the individual further.
"We remain committed to the release of other U.S. citizens in Belarus and elsewhere," Rubio said in a statement. "We call for the release of nearly 1,300 political prisoners who remain in jail across Belarus."
Rubio said last month that Belarus had "unilaterally released an innocent American" whom he named as Anastassia Nuhfer. He gave no further details about the case, which had not previously been made public.
Details surrounding Nuhfer's detention remain unclear. Minsk never disclosed her name, and Washington does not release the names of detained Americans abroad without the consent of their families.