Belarusian authorities released an American citizen from a Minsk jail on February 12, as part of the recent prisoner swap that saw Russia trade US citizen Paul Vogel this week for a Russian national in a US jail.

The prisoner in a Belarus jail has chosen to remain anonymous, but was reportedly associated with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed the release, stating that the individual is now in Lithuania. Two others journalists for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Andrei Kuznechyk and Alena Maushuk were also released as part of the deal.

Belarus has played a key role in prisoner exchange deals involving the US and Russia. Belarus released Rico Krieger, a German national sentenced to death, as part of the historic prisoner exchange completed on August 1 last year that saw US journalist Evan Gershkovich returned home with a dozen others in exchange for a Russian assassin serving a life sentence in Germany.

The release of the RFE/RL associate follows on from the liberation of former US Embassy employee Mark Fogel from Russian detention, where he had served three and a half years of a 14-year sentence after being arrested for carrying marijuana across the Russian border.

Vogel has reportedly been swapped for one of the founders and head of the BTC-e crypto exchange, Alexander Vinnik, who may return to Russia from custody, ABC News and The New York Times (NYT) reported, citing sources. His lawyer, Arkady Bukh, told Vedomosti that his client has been released from prison but did not expand on his whereabouts.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund Chief Kirill Dmitriev arranged the exchange, Reuters reported, citing a source close to the negotiations.

Vinnik was detained in Greece in 2017 at the request of the US, accused of laundering at least $4bn dollars in proceeds from criminal activity through the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, The Kyiv Independent reported. He has been ordered to pay $100mn to the US government and was in northern California awaiting transfer back to Russia, according to Reuters.

The deal was a PR coup for President Donald Trump who expressed gratitude towards Russian President Vladimir Putin for facilitating Fogel's release, describing the terms of the exchange as "very fair" and "very reasonable." The release was yet another gesture by Putin ahead of mooted ceasefire talks to bring the Ukraine conflict to an end. Trump and Putin held a phone conversation on February 12 where they sketched out the terms of the negotiations.

Putin was very quick to congratulate Trump on his victory in the US elections in televised comments only hours before Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20. He also said that the war in Ukraine “might not have happened” if Trump was president in 2022, and that the 2020 election victory was “stolen” from Trump.

Putin said during a televised meeting that day: "If victory wasn't stolen from [Trump] in 2020... the Ukrainian crisis might not have occurred."

Preparations for the upcoming negotiations go into high gear on February 14 as special envoy to Ukraine retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg travels to the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to consult with other world leaders to thrash out a collective position ahead of a face-to-face meeting between Trump and Putin. Trump is expected to release the details of his peace plan shortly after, probably on February 24, the third anniversary of the invasion at the start of the war.

During their call, Putin extended an invitation to Trump to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host American officials to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the Ukrainian conflict. The leaders agreed to continue personal contacts and arrange a face-to-face meeting expected to be held in Saudi Arabia.

Trump characterised the discussion as "excellent" and noted a mutual desire for peace. He emphasised the importance of halting the ongoing conflict, stating, "I just want people to stop dying."