White House says American among 3 detainees freed by Belarus

WASHINGTON: US officials said Wednesday they have secured the release of three “hostages” who had been detained in Belarus, including an American citizen, in a diplomatic success for President Donald Trump’s administration.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the release of the three, including “one American and two individuals from Belarus, one of whom worked for Radio Liberty.”

US Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald, speaking on CNN from Vilnius, described the release as “a big day for team America, for the president, for the secretary of state,” adding “we just welcomed them (the detainees) here a few minutes ago.”

Chris Smith, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Eastern European affairs, described a “special operation” in which he and other US officials “crossed into the Belarusian frontier (and) went into Minsk to meet with Belarusian counterparts who brought these three detainees to us.”

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“They were handed over to us, and we brought them back out through Lithuania,” he told CNN.

The released American has not been identified.

The White House’s Leavitt called US citizen’s release “a remarkable victory on the heels of Marc Fogel returning to America last night.”

Fogel, an American teacher held in Russia since 2021, was freed Tuesday in a prisoner swap with Moscow.

One of the persons freed by Minsk is Andrey Kuznechyk, a veteran journalist with Radio Liberty, according to a statement from the broadcaster which is known in Belarus as Radio Svaboda.

In a statement, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) President Stephen Capus said: “This is a joyous day for Andrey, his wife, and their two young children. After more than three years apart, this family is together again thanks to President Trump.”

RFE/RL is a broadcaster funded by the US Congress, which was founded during the Cold War to transmit information behind the Iron Curtain.

On Sunday billionaire Elon Musk, who is spearheading Trump’s federal government cost-cutting efforts, called for RFE/RL and another broadcaster funded by Congress, the Voice of America, to be shuttered.