Trump thanks Belarusian president for release of 16 prisoners, says 1,300 more may be freed

President Donald Trump has said that he was able to call the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, about the recent release of 16 prisoners, as well as the potential release of an additional 1,300 prisoners being held in the country.  

The president posted to Truth Social, "I had a wonderful talk with the highly respected President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko. The purpose of the call was to thank him for the release of 16 prisoners. We are also discussing the release of 1,300 additional prisoners."

"Our conversation was a very good one. We discussed many topics, including President Putin’s visit to Alaska. I look forward to meeting President Lukashenko in the future. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump added. 

The post from Trump comes after Lukashenko announced 16 pardons for prisoners in July, with many of them being charged with extremism, which is sometimes used to jail government dissidents in Belarus, per the Associated Press. 

A human rights group has said that there are over 1,000 political prisoners in the country. In June, prominent political figure in Belarus, Siarhei Tsikhanouski was also released along with 13 other prisoners who were then brought to Lithuania. The release came after Trump's envoy to Ukraine met with Lukashenko. 

Among the more recent release of 16 prisoners, there were not any prominent political figures. The post from Trump comes the president is en route to Alaska to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war between Russia and Ukraine.