American detained in Belarus is freed
CNN
An American detained in Belarus has been freed, a US official said Wednesday.
An American detained in Belarus has been freed, a US official told CNN on Wednesday. Youras Ziankovich was arrested in Moscow in 2021 and then was brought to Belarus’s capital Minsk, where he was accused of being part of a US-backed coup plot against Belarus’ strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko. The US State Department denied any such involvement. There was not a prisoner swap that led to Ziankovich’s release, the official said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the news later on Wednesday, without naming Ziankovich. “Thanks to @POTUS’s leadership, Belarus has released another wrongfully detained U.S. citizen. No president has done so much, so quickly, to keep Americans safe abroad,” Rubio posted on X. According to Global Reach, an organization that advocated for his case, Ziankovich did not have access to US officials until January 2025.
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