Overview
- A U.S.-facilitated exchange at the Polish–Belarusian border freed five people held in Belarus, including three Polish nationals and two Moldovan citizens.
- Journalist Andrzej Poczobut, a prominent voice for Belarus’s Polish minority, walked free after more than 1,800 days in detention.
- Russia’s Federal Security Service said Poland released Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin as part of the swap.
- Butyagin had been arrested at Ukraine’s request over alleged illegal digs in occupied Crimea, and a Polish court had approved his extradition to Ukraine.
- Ukrainian authorities had not commented on his release, which raises unresolved questions about the case and next legal steps.