Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belarus’s autocratic president and Russia’s closest ally, has taken steps to soften his country’s isolation from the West.

Belarusian authorities have released an imprisoned U.S. citizen, a Belarusian journalist for a U.S.-funded media outlet and an opposition supporter in an apparent attempt to repair ruptured ties with Washington.

U.S. officials say Belarus has released three people, including an American and a journalist, who’d been detained for more than three years

Belarusian journalist Andrei Kuznechyk and an unnamed American citizen were among the three prisoners released in Belarus on Wednesday, according to officials. Kuznechyk, who U.S. officials had dubbed a political prisoner,