Washington – at least one American citizen who had been detained in Bélarus was released on Wednesday, said the hostage negotiator of the United States, one of the three released prisoners.
Adam Boehler, the American envoy for hostages, told journalists from the White House that the individual wanted to remain deprived. Two other people were released on Wednesday as part of the agreement, he said. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty identified His journalist Andrey Kuznechyk, who was arrested in November 2021, as one of the people published. Another woman, who is now in Texas, was released two weeks ago in what Boehler described as a “a” phase “of the liberation.
“Phase two has been completed today,” said Boehler, adding that it was a “unilateral liberation” and that the United States has given nothing in return.
Chris Smith, deputy assistant deputy secretary of Eastern Europe, said that the agreement had been negotiated by the Belarusian authorities in Minsk and that she had pointed out a desire by Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Bélarus, to have a stronger relationship with the United States
“It was a unilateral gesture of Lukashenko authorities,” said Smith in an interview with CNN. “They respond to force. They seek to improve links. It was a gesture on their side.”
Smith said the three individuals had been given to the United States in the United States, and that the United States “then brought them back by Lithuania”.
The news comes a day after Marc Fogel, an American teacher who had been detained in Russia since 2021, was released by the KremlinAn ally of the Belarus.
President Trump said on Tuesday that another American held abroad would also be released on Wednesday, saying: “Someone else is released tomorrow that you know.” But he did not develop more.
Fogel met Mr. Trump in the White House on Tuesday evening, shortly after his return to the United States
The Biden administration only recently declared that Fogel was wrongly detained, years after his drug arrest in Moscow. His family said Fogel wore 17 grams of marijuana to treat chronic back pain.
“The most intelligent thing you can do to collect the favor of the President of the United States is to bring the Americans back home,” Boehler told journalists.
