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President Alexandr Lukashenko is hoping to improve relations with the West once more.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 28 Apr 2026<\/span>28 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Belarus has released Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut from jail as part of a prisoner exchange.<\/p>\n Poland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the release on Tuesday, noting that Warsaw had been helped in a joint diplomatic push on Minsk by the United States, Romania and Moldova.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The prisoner swap with Poland saw 10 prisoners released overall, with signs that Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko is hoping to improve relations with the West once more. Ties have deteriorated due to his support for Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Poczobut was detained by Belarusian authorities in 2021 and later sentenced to eight years in a labour camp after a trial widely criticised by rights groups and Western governments as politically motivated.<\/p>\n Concerns had grown in recent years about his health while in detention.<\/p>\n \u201cAndrzej Poczobut is free! Welcome to your Polish home, my friend,\u201d Tusk posted on social media.<\/p>\n Belarus also \u2060released Polish priest \u2060Grzegorz Gawel and a Belarusian who helped Polish \u200cservices, whose name was not to be revealed, \u2060the Polish leader added.<\/p>\n \u200cRussians and Moldovans were also among the prisoners swapped in a \u201cfive \u2060for \u2060five\u201d exchange.<\/p>\n Tusk also noted that the release followed lengthy diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe exchange at the Polish-Belarusian border is the finale of a two-year-long intricate diplomatic game, full of dramatic twists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt succeeded thanks to the outstanding work of our services, diplomats and prosecutors, as well as the tremendous help from our American, Romanian and Moldovan friends.\u201d<\/p>\n The announcement came hours after Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski published a photograph of a meeting with US Special Envoy to Belarus John Coale, saying the pair had discussed \u201cimportant issues\u201d.<\/p>\n Coale later said that the US had helped to secure the release of three Polish nationals and two Moldovans.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thank Poland, Moldova, and Romania for their invaluable support in this effort, as well as President Lukashenko\u2019s willingness to pursue constructive engagement with the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder President Trump, America shows up for its allies and delivers diplomatic victories no one else can,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n Poczobut, who had worked as a correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, has been arrested numerous times in Belarus over the past decade.<\/p>\n In 2011, he was fined and jailed for 15 days for his participation in protests following Belarus\u2019s 2010 presidential election. He was later detained again in 2011 and 2012 on accusations of insulting Lukashenko.<\/p>\n His cases drew international condemnation, with the European Parliament, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International among organisations calling for his release.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the European Parliament awarded Poczobut and Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli the Sakharov Prize.<\/p>\n Lukashenko has released hundreds of detainees since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and broke with Europe\u2019s hardline approach towards Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n Coale, who has spoken in surprisingly warm terms about the Belarusian authoritarian, told the Reuters news agency that he expects to secure the \u2060release of additional prisoners within the next month, adding that Washington could hand Minsk sanctions relief in return.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n President Alexandr Lukashenko is hoping to improve relations with the West once more. Published On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026 Belarus has released Polish-Belarusian journalist Andrzej Poczobut from jail as part of a prisoner exchange. Poland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the release on Tuesday, noting that Warsaw had been helped in a joint diplomatic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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