On the first anniversary of the start of demonstrations in the eastern European country against generally seen as rigged elections, the United States, in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada, imposed additional sanctions on Belarus. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has retaliated against nonviolent protests and political opponents since then.
On the anniversary of an election that many Western nations believe was rigged and sparked major demonstrations in Belarus, President Joe Biden slapped a new wave of economic sanctions on the country on Monday. Biden signed a broad executive order extending the number of industries that the US can target in Belarus, as well as the country's largest batch of sanctions to date.
Biden administration targets 17 firms in a new sanction against Belarus
The measures were presented by the White House as retaliation for President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko's dictatorial practices. Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and claims to have won the country's election last year with 80% of the vote. The brutal police crackdowns that followed the election were greeted with widespread protests, New York Times reported.
Biden's executive order allows the US to target 17 firms that cooperate with Belarus in a variety of fields, including energy, security, and transportation, as well as potash and tobacco industries. Belaruskali OAO, one of the country's major state-owned enterprises, and the Belarusian national Olympic committee were also sanctioned, with the administration describing them as a tool for Lukashenko and his inner circle to launder cash and avoid sanctions.
Lukashenko warned reporters on Monday that the British sanctions, which were announced earlier in the day, may cause Britain to "choke." The United Kingdom and the United States have already targeted Belarusians with asset freezes and visa bans, but these measures have failed to deter Lukashenko, who has led the former Soviet republic since 1994, as per Voice of America.
Trade-in potash, oil products, interception and monitoring technologies, and items used in cigarette manufacture are also restricted under British restrictions. The purchase of securities issued by the Belarusian state, as well as the provision of insurance and reinsurance to Belarusian state organizations, are prohibited for British investors.
US, Canada, UK announced sanctions
Lukashenko was re-elected to a sixth term as president of Belarus last year in a poll denounced by the opposition and many in the West as fraudulent. In addition, Canada, together with the United States and the United Kingdom, placed fresh sanctions on Belarus on Monday in protest of what it called President Lukashenko's "gross abuses of human rights."
Ottawa would target transferable securities and money market instruments, debt finance, insurance and reinsurance, petroleum goods, and potassium chloride products, according to Foreign Minister Marc Garneau. Similar restrictions were announced in Washington and London.
On the first anniversary of a presidential election that opponents said was manipulated in favor of Lukashenko, Canada took action. The widespread perception that the vote was stolen sparked huge riots in Belarus, leading to greater repression of demonstrators, dissidents, and independent media by Lukashenko's administration.
Over 35,000 individuals were detained, with many more assaulted and imprisoned. Since gaining power in Belarus in 1994, Lukashenko has acquired the nickname "Europe's last dictator" in the West for his unrelenting persecution of the opposition. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, an Olympic sprinter who feared retaliation for criticizing her coaches at home, escaped to Poland from the Tokyo Olympics last week.
Per Daily Mail, the Lukashenko regime has been urged by the Biden administration to allow an independent international investigation into the Ryanair flight divert, release all political prisoners, and begin talks with the democratic opposition and civil society figures that will result in a free and fair presidential election under the supervision of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
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