MINSK, June 21. /TASS/. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 14 prisoners, including foreign nationals and opposition figures, presidential spokeswoman Natalia Eismont told TASS.

"Yes, the president made a decision to pardon 14 prisoners. It was a request of the US president. Most of them are foreigners, including two Japanese citizens, three Polish citizens, two Latvian citizens, as well as citizens of Estonia, Sweden, and the United States. A few Belarusians are on the list as well. They were convicted of extremist and terrorist activities. Sergey Tikhanovsky is among them. The president decided to release Tikhanovsky solely for humanitarian reasons, to reunite the family," she said.

Earlier, John Coale, deputy to US special envoy Keith Kellogg, said that the Belarusian authorities had released 14 prisoners.