Belarus, a close ally to Russia, has been subjected to sanctions from the West on several occasions, citing systematic violations of human rights and that Belarus made its territory available to the Kremlin when Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
However, over the past year, the country's dictator Alexander Lukashenko has attempted to appease Europe and the US, among other things by releasing political prisoners, in order to achieve sanction relief.
Just before the announcement of Thursday's releases, state-owned Belarusian media published a video in which the US envoy John Coale claimed that Washington is lifting its sanctions against the state-owned Belarusian airline Belavia.
Among the released prisoners are, among others, a prominent opposition activist, a journalist at the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and 14 foreign citizens from Latvia, Poland, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
In June, Sergei Tikhanovsky, the husband of the country's opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, was unexpectedly released from his captivity.
According to opposition groups, over 1,000 people are being held prisoner in Belarus on political grounds.
