Germany Offers Refuge to Released Belarusian Political Prisoners Babaryka, Kalesnikava

Belarus freed 123 political prisoners following a deal arranged by the United States, which was tied to the lifting of U.S. sanctions.

Maria Kolesnikova, a key Belarusian opposition figure, shows a sign of love sitting in a bus after being released from detention in Belarus, at the Ukrainian Belorussian border, on Dec. 13, 2025. Press Service Of Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War via AP

Germany has offered refuge to Viktar Babaryka and Maria Kalesnikava, two prominent Belarusian opposition leaders released from prison following a U.S.-brokered deal with Minsk.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told ARD program “Bericht aus Berlin” on Dec. 14 that Germany would be welcoming the two activists “because we have a strong interest in strengthening this democracy movement, even if it now has to develop further outside of Belarus.”

“Ms. Kalesnikava and Mr. Babaryka, two prominent figures in the democracy movement who played a major role in the past, were imprisoned, have now been released, and are therefore being granted asylum because we have an interest in ensuring that the democracy movement in Belarus continues to receive support from abroad,” he said.

Dobrindt praised the United States for its work in negotiating the scores of releases, telling ARD that it was “the significant influence of the Americans” that made it possible for the imprisoned opposition figures in Belarus to be released.

Babaryka and Kalesnikava are two of 123 political prisoners who were being held in Belarus and were freed following a deal arranged by the United States on Dec. 13, which was tied to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Minsk, including on Belarus’s potash industry.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been in power since 1994, and when he was reelected in 2020 for his sixth term, the results were condemned by the opposition and Western governments as fraudulent. The election sparked widespread protests across the country, which were met with a sweeping crackdown during which thousands of Lukashenko’s opponents, critics, and protesters were jailed.

Then, in 2021, the Biden administration added dozens of entities and individuals connected to the Lukashenko government to the U.S. Treasury Department’s blacklist, citing the crackdown on dissidents and what it called the “fraudulent Belarusian election.” One of those entities was the state-owned Belaruskali OAO, one of the world’s largest producers of potash fertilizer.

Among those arrested during the suppression in Belarus were Kalesnikava, an opposition leader, and Babaryka, a former Belarusian presidential candidate. Kalesnikava had led Babaryka’s 2020 election campaign before both were imprisoned.

Bialiatski Vows to Continue Activism

They were released on Dec. 13 along with Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.

Babaryka, Bialiatski, and Kalesnikava were part of a pro-democracy group, the Coordination Council, which was at the center of the post-2020 protest movement.

Bialiatski, who founded the Viasna rights group, was in prison when he was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of the released Belarusian prisoners, arrives at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Dec. 13, 2025. Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo

He told the Associated Press on Dec. 13 that his release after 1,613 days into a 10-year prison sentence came as a surprise; in the morning, he was still in his overcrowded prison cell.

“It feels like I jumped out of icy water into a normal, warm room, so I have to adapt. After isolation, I need to get information about what’s going on,” Bialiatski said.

The activist vowed to continue his work, saying that “more than a thousand political prisoners in Belarus remain behind bars simply because they chose freedom.”

“And, of course, I am their voice,” he said.

Kyiv Facilitating Transfers to EU

Kyiv will be facilitating the transfer of the freed prisoners to the European Union.

The Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement on Dec. 13, “The released citizens of Belarus, after receiving the necessary medical care and at their request, will be delivered to Poland and Lithuania.”

The agency noted that the group of freed prisoners also includes Ukrainian citizens who had been held in Belarus.

“We express our gratitude to the United States of America and President Donald Trump for the productive work in returning civilian and military personnel from Belarus and the Russian Federation,” the statement reads.

Besides Belarusians and Ukrainians, the group also includes citizens of Australia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the UK, and the United States, according to Lukashenko’s office.

Including a group of political prisoners released at the end of November, Belarus stated that the total number of individuals pardoned now stands at 156.

The Associated Press and Bill Pan contributed to this report.