Belarus has freed 52 prisoners who have crossed into Lithuania, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said Thursday, in a move that follows months of high‑level diplomacy and comes amid continuing international concern over political detentions in Minsk.

The Belarusian presidency’s press service said 14 of the released were foreigners: six Lithuanians, two Latvians, two Poles, two Germans, one French national and one British national. Nausėda wrote on X that he was "deeply grateful to the United States and personally to President @realDonaldTrump for their continued efforts to free political prisoners," and added that the freed people left "behind barbed wire, barred windows and constant fear."

The releases add to a recent pattern of pardons and releases by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has faced Western criticism for his government’s crackdown on dissent since disputed elections in 2020. In June, Belarus freed Siarhei Tsikhanouski, a prominent dissident and husband of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, along with 13 others after a rare visit by a senior U.S. envoy. Belarus has pardoned nearly 300 people since July 2024, including some U.S. citizens, part of a push by Minsk to ease tensions with Western governments.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke last month with Lukashenko about the release of additional prisoners, according to officials familiar with the conversations. Nausėda’s public thanks pointed to continued U.S. involvement in negotiations over detainees.

Human rights groups say the releases, while significant for those freed, leave the vast majority of political detainees behind bars. Viasna, a Belarusian rights group, estimates that almost 1,200 political prisoners remain imprisoned in Belarus. Nausėda and other Western leaders have repeatedly called for the unconditional release of those detainees.

Since the mass protests that followed the August 2020 presidential election, thousands of Belarusians have been detained during demonstrations and many opposition figures have been jailed or forced into exile. Authorities have said they are addressing security and legal concerns, while rights groups and foreign governments have accused Minsk of widespread rights abuses and unfair trials.

Lukashenko has extended his rule following a January 2025 election that the opposition and many Western observers described as lacking credibility. Minsk has sought to balance this internal repression with occasional gestures to foreign governments that critics say are aimed at easing sanctions and repairing diplomatic ties.

Lithuania has been a vocal critic of Minsk since the 2020 protests and has hosted many Belarusian exiles and opposition activists. The arrival of the 52 freed prisoners is likely to bolster calls in the Baltic states and the European Union for continued pressure on Belarus to secure the release of the remaining detainees and for accountability for alleged human rights violations.

The Lithuanian presidency did not immediately provide additional details about the conditions under which the prisoners were released or any agreements that led to their transfer across the border. Belarusian and Lithuanian officials have not outlined a public timeline for further releases.

The freed individuals’ arrival in Lithuania marks the latest episode in a complex diplomatic dynamic in which Western governments, regional neighbors and Minsk engage intermittently over individual releases even as broader disagreements over governance, rights and sovereignty persist.