Belarus releases three detainees, including an American, White House says

By Nandita Bose and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Three detainees have been released from detention in Belarus, including one American, the White House said on Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to forge a deal to end the war in Ukraine with Minsk's ally, Russia.

"We can confirm the safe release of one American and two individuals from Belarus," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt did not name the American who had been released.

U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty announced that one of those released by Belarus was one of their journalists, Andrei Kuznechyk, with the network's Belarus service, who was arrested in November 2021.

"This is a joyous day for Andrei, his wife, Alesya, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President (Donald) Trump," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.

Kuznechyk has been reunited with his family in Lithuania, said Franak Viacorka, the chief political adviser to Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

Tsikhanouskaya in a post on X said activist Alena Maushuk was also released and was in serious health condition, adding that all three of those released were in Vilnius.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the American who had been released. The Russian embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Belarusian embassy said in an email that it would have no comment.

The release comes after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month that Belarus had "unilaterally released an innocent American", whom he named as Anastassia Nuhfer. He gave no further details about the case, which had not previously been made public.

A person familiar with efforts to bring home American detainees held abroad said another American remains imprisoned in Belarus. The source said Youras Ziankovich, a 47-year-old naturalized American who lives in Texas, was arrested in April 2021 while having lunch in Moscow and had not been released on Wednesday.

Ziankovich was hooded, handcuffed and driven to Belarus, where he was tried in secret and sent to prison for allegedly plotting a coup, the source said, adding that he was allowed his first visit from Lithuania-based U.S. diplomats on January 5.

The release of detainees from Belarus comes after American schoolteacher Marc Fogel was released by Russia after 3-1/2 years in prison.

Fogel, 63, was serving a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling after being caught at a Moscow airport with a small amount of marijuana. He was flown on Tuesday to Washington, where he celebrated his release with Trump at the White House on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones, Nandita Bose, Jonathan Landay and Jeff Mason in Washington, Andrius Sytas in Vilnius and Janis Laizans in Tallinn; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Susan Heavey and Sandra Maler)