Ukraine releases Belarusian "spy" ahead of Zelenskiy-Lukashenka talks:
By RFE/RL's Belarus Service
Ukrainian authorities have released Belarusian citizen Yury Palityka, who is on trial for allegedly collecting classified information for an unspecified Belarusian state organization.
Palityka's lawyer, Taras Horolyuk, told RFE/RL that a court in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv released his client on his own recognizance on October 3. Palityka was ordered to attend his trial, Horolyuk said.
Palityka was arrested in June 2017 while crossing the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and charged with spying. Ukrainian authorities said then that he had secret information regarding Kyiv's military operations against Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east.
After Palityka's arrest in Ukraine, Belarusian authorities detained Ukrainian journalist Pavlo Sharoyko in October 2017 and charged him with espionage. Sharoyko was sentenced to eight years in prison in May last year.
Human rights groups in both countries have said that Minsk and Kyiv may exchange Palityka and Sharoyko.
Palityka's release came a day before scheduled talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the northwestern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr.