{"id":417091,"date":"2025-09-12T00:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/417091\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T00:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:16:16","slug":"europes-last-dictator-frees-more-than-50-prisoners-to-ease-sanctions-in-trump-trade-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/417091\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Europe’s last dictator’ frees more than 50 prisoners to ease sanctions in Trump trade | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mass prisoner release for sanctions relief.<\/p>\n

That’s the latest trade Donald Trump<\/strong><\/a> has made and it’s with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

It came after surprise talks in Minsk between US officials and the man often described as Europe’s last dictator.<\/p>\n

We knew the two sides were talking – previous contacts led to the release of leading opposition activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski<\/strong><\/a> in June – but a prisoner release this big was unexpected.<\/p>\n

\"Pic:<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Some 52 detainees of various nationalities, including the UK, were freed in what is the biggest pardoning of political prisoners so far by Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus<\/strong><\/a> for 31 years.<\/p>\n

It’s far short of the 1,300 prisoners whose release Trump has been calling for since a phone call with Lukashenko last month.<\/p>\n

But it’s a massive moment for a country where all forms of dissent and political freedoms have been practically wiped out.<\/p>\n

Similarly seismic is the lifting of some sanctions on the Belarusian national airline Belavia.<\/p>\n

It’s only limited – allowing it to buy spare parts and service its fleet – and simultaneously benefits an American business in Boeing, but it’s nevertheless symbolic.<\/p>\n

The first permanent removal of US sanctions, on either Russia<\/strong><\/a> or Belarus, since the invasion of Ukraine<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Belarusian<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko greets John Coale, a representative of President Trump. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

So what does it mean?<\/p>\n

From Alexander Lukashenko, it’s a sign that he wants to rekindle relations with the West after years of crippling sanctions.<\/p>\n

But don’t expect any further prisoner releases to happen quickly. Political detainees are his bargaining chip – free them all and he loses his leverage. It’ll be a drip feed.<\/p>\n

For Donald Trump, it could be an attempt to get closer to Vladimir Putin<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lukashenko is a close ally of the Russian president and could provide a strategic back-channel through which to apply pressure on the Kremlin when it comes to peace talks.<\/p>\n

But it could be more selfish than that, and merely his latest attempt to secure the Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
Qatari PM says Israel ‘killed any hope’ of freeing hostages<\/strong><\/a>
UK to mass-produce drones to help Ukraine<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Follow<\/p>\n

Follow the World<\/p>\n

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday<\/p>\n

Tap to follow<\/a><\/p>\n

After all, Trump only raised the issue of Belarusian prisoners with Lukashenko last month, after receiving a plea from Dmitry Bolkunets, an exiled opposition activist, who told the US president he would nominate him for the Nobel prize if he was successful in liberating any prisoners.<\/p>\n

Either way, the timing is curious to say the least.<\/p>\n

It comes only a day after the incursion of multiple Russian drones into Polish and NATO airspace<\/strong><\/a>. According to Warsaw, some of the drones were even launched from neighbouring Belarus.<\/p>\n

This is further evidence, as if it’s needed, that Trump is willing to ignore the noise, and the norms, in pursuit of his deal-centric diplomacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mass prisoner release for sanctions relief. That’s the latest trade Donald Trump has made and it’s with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-417091","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115188451575137793","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}