Belarus pardon for German hints at wider prisoner swap

But the film produced no direct evidence of that and there were multiple oddities and inconsistencies in the account.

It ended with Mr Krieger making a sobbing plea for help from the German government.

Now he’s been pardoned, state media are full of praise for Mr Lukashenko’s “merciful” nature and damning the Germans, claiming they abandoned their own.

One notorious reporter was filmed giving the official line: the crime was very serious and unjustifiable, but Mr Lukashenko was wise and fair – and would make “the right call”.

It is possible this presidential pardon is the latest in a series of tentative gestures by Mr Lukashenko towards the West.

Widely condemned and sanctioned after his security forces brutally suppressed mass opposition protests in 2020, he was isolated still further when he allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko owed Vladimir Putin for coming to his support during the street protests.