Belarus has released 123 prisoners, including prominent opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova, after the US agreed to lift sanctions on the Eastern European country.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski is also among those released following talks in Minsk with US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Belarus, John Coale.
The US has agreed to lift sanctions on potash, a key ingredient in chemical fertilizers and an important export for the country, whose president, Alexander Lukashenko, is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"As relations between the two countries normalize, more and more sanctions will be lifted," Coale said.
Like the EU, the US did not recognize Lukashenko as president after unfair elections five years ago, which led to massive street protests that were brutally suppressed by police.
Hundreds of people were arrested then and strong political repression has continued.
Western sanctions were tightened after Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when troops entered through Belarus and missiles were launched from its territory. /Telegraph/
