Political situation in Belarus

Belarus promises to stop balloons over Lithuania

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has promised to stop balloon flights in Lithuanian airspace, US envoy John Coale said according to Reuters. The announcement comes as the country released over 100 prisoners in exchange for easing US sanctions.

– He agreed to do everything he could to stop the balloons.

This week, a state of emergency was declared in Lithuania after balloons – loaded with cigarettes – crossed the border from Belarus several times in the autumn.

The EU and NATO country has accused Lukashenko of being behind it, and President Gitanas Nauseda has said that there are many indications that it is a case of hybrid warfare. 

Belarus releases 123 prisoners – opposition leaders and Nobel laureates pardoned

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 123 prisoners, including opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova and 2022 Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski, Reuters reports.

According to Belarusian state media, the prisoners are being pardoned in exchange for the United States easing some of the sanctions against the country, AP writes.

Kolesnikova was one of the leaders of the mass protests against Lukashenko after the criticized 2020 presidential election. She was imprisoned the same year and sentenced to 11 years in prison for her involvement in the protests. Byalyatski served a 10-year sentence in a penal colony.

Opposition politician Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, whose husband Sergei Tikhanovsky was released in June, says Saturday's release shows that Lukashenko "understands the pain of Western sanctions."

At the same time, she warns the outside world against being naive.

– Lukashenko has not changed his policies, his repression continues and he continues to support Russia's war against Ukraine, she says.