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People demonstrate against political persecution in front of a Belarusian embassy on Jan. 26, 2025. Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption
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Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The White House says Belarus has freed three prisoners, including an American and an employee of a U.S.- funded radio station. The release comes a day after American teacher Marc Fogel was freed from jail in Russia.
The United States released Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian money launderer, in exchange for Fogel, who spent three years in prison for bringing medical marijuana into Russia.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the separate deal with Russia's neighbor Belarus, saying, "It speaks to President Trump's deal-making ability, and we can confirm the safe release of one American and two individuals from Belarus, one of whom worked for Radio Liberty."
She didn't identify the individuals, but Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty thanked the Trump administration for getting its employee Andrey Kuznechyk out after more than three years in jail. (Ihar Losik, another RFE/RL employee, remains behind bars in the former Soviet state).
On its Telegram channel, Nexta, a Belarusian opposition outlet, identified the other released Belarusian as activist Alena Movshuk, who was detained in connection with her participation in the 2020 protests against a widely disputed reelection of Kremlin ally President Alexander Lukashenko.
Last month, the Trump administration celebrated what it termed the "unilateral release" of another American citizen from prison in Belarus. In a post to the social media platform X, Secretary of State Marco Rubio identified the American as Anastassia Nuhfer — and claimed she had been detained by Belarus during the Biden administration, without providing details. The State Department later clarified Nuhfer had been arrested in December of last year.
Her release fell on the same day that Lukashenko was set to win a seventh term in office, extending his 31-year hold over the country. Yet Nuhfer's release followed a series of recent pardons of political prisoners by Lukashenko.
Analysts say the moves signal an attempt by the Belarusian leader to reengage with the West following years of sanctions imposed over repressions at home and his support for Russia's actions in neighboring Ukraine.
