U.S. citizen detained in Belarus released

• At the same time, the administration's immigration crackdown has resulted in the arrest and deportation of legal U.S. residents.

Driving the news: Youras Ziankovich was released Wednesday after Rubio determined in February that he was wrongfully detained, a U.S. official told Axios.

• He will be returned to the U.S. soon, the official said.
• The release, conducted with the help of Lithuania, was a humanitarian gesture by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, the official said.
• The U.S. didn't release any prisoners in return.

Zoom in: Ziankovich was detained in Russia in April 2022 and sent to Minsk, where he was sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

• He was accused of being part of a U.S.-backed coup plot against Lukashenko, which the U.S. State Department has denied, per CNN.

What they're saying: Rubio said in a post on X that the release was in thanks to President Trump's leadership.

• "No president has done so much, so quickly, to keep Americans safe abroad," Rubio wrote. "In just 100 days, we've also secured the release of 47 unjustly detained Americans around the world – including in Afghanistan, Russia, and Venezuela – through high-level diplomatic efforts."

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