US, UK, EU, Canada slap sanctions on Belarus over human rights abuses

The United States imposed sanctions on more than a dozen Belarusian individuals and organizations on Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department said, joining Britain, Canada and the European Union in pressure for human rights abuses and the erosion of democracy.

Belarus plunged into crisis last year when there were street protests over an allegedly rigged presidential election.

Veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko has so far ridden the storm with a tough crackdown. His grounding on an airliner last month and the arrest of a renegade blogger aboard caused outrage in the West.

The US Treasury Department said in a statement it had 16 people and five units in response to “escalating violence and repression by the Lukashenko administration, including the ruthless forced diversion of a Ryanair commercial flight and the arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich” on the black List set.

“The United States and its partners will not tolerate sustained attacks on democracy and the relentless repression of independent voices in Belarus,” Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury Department for Foreign Assets Control, said in the statement.

Monday’s action targeted Lukashenko’s close associates, the Ministry of Finance, including his press secretary and the chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly, the upper house of the Belarusian parliament, said.

Blacklisted individuals and entities accused by the Treasury Department of having played a role in cracking down on peaceful protesters after the presidential election in August.

The following are affected by sanctions: the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus and the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the MVD of the Republic of Belarus.

Mikalai Karpiankou, the deputy interior minister of Belarus and current commander of the internal forces, was also sanctioned, along with Prosecutor General Andrei Ivanavich Shved.

The UK on Monday added several senior Belarusian officials and agencies, including an exporter of oil products, to its sanctions list as part of a coordinated move with allies.

“In response to the arrests of journalists Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega following the illegal diversion of Ryanair flight FR4978 in May 2021, parallel to the US, Canada and the EU, the UK has imposed sanctions on seven people and a unit of the Belarusian regime imposed ”, it says in a statement from the Foreign Office.

“In response to the continued suppression of democracy and human rights in Belarus by Lukashenko and his regime, four people and one unit were named.”