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A dozen Nobel Peace Prize winners left as the United States lifted potash embargoes.
Published on December 13, 2025
Belarus has released 123 prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bilyatsky and prominent opposition figure Maria Kalesnikova, in exchange for sanctions relief from the United States.
US Special Envoy to Belarus John Cole announced the lifting of potash embargoes on Saturday after two days of talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk.
Belarus is a leading global producer of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizers.
Lukashenko’s prisoner release was the largest since the Trump administration began talks this year with a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He had previously been shunned by Western governments for crushing his opposition to and supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Separately, Ukraine’s Prisoner of War Coordination Center said it had received 114 prisoners released by Belarus, including Ukrainian intelligence and Ukrainian citizens accused of working for Belarusian political prisoners.
The center’s statement said that the freed detainees would receive medical assistance, while Belarusian citizens who wished would be later transported to Poland or Lithuania.
There is more to come.