“Wonderful news! Three hostages of the Belarus regime have just been released. All of them are now safe in Vilnius. One of the released, activist Alena Maushuk, is in a serious health condition, and we are now bringing her to a safe place. But most importantly – she is alive and out of this hell. Huge thanks to US President Trump, Secretary Rubio, and the US State Department for their joint efforts in making this happen,” Tiskhanouskaya wrote on social platform X.
The second released individual is Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Andrei Kuznechyk, a political prisoner who spent three years in a Belarusian prison but has reunited with his family in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Lithuania Kara C. McDonald told CNN that a US citizen was freed as well.
“It is a big day for team America, for the president, for the secretary of state,” she said.
Chris Smith, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Eastern European affairs, said that US officials went to Minsk to meet with Belarusian counterparts who handed over the detainees and they were brought back out through Lithuania. He thanked Lithuania for its support.