Belarus has released opposition activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski and 13 other political prisoners, human-rights group Viasna said on Saturday. The blogger, who was sentenced in 2021 to 18 years for allegedly organising mass unrest, had spent more than five years in custody after announcing plans to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in the disputed 2020 election. The pardons came hours after retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, held rare talks with Lukashenko in Minsk. The visit was the highest-level contact between Washington and the Belarusian leader in years and, according to both Belarusian state media and opposition figures, catalysed the prisoner releases. Following his release, the 46-year-old Tsikhanouski travelled to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he was reunited with his wife, exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. In remarks carried by local media, he urged further U.S. engagement, saying Trump could secure the freedom of all remaining political detainees “with a single word.” Despite the gesture, Viasna estimates that Belarus continues to hold more than 1,000 political prisoners. Western governments and rights groups welcomed the releases but called on Lukashenko to free the rest of those jailed on politically motivated charges.