Biden administration to announce new sanctions on Belarus

(CNN) – The Biden administration would unveil new sanctions on Belarus and a new presidential decree amid continued repression by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

A congressional source told CNN the actions were expected to be announced on Monday, on the first anniversary of the Eastern European country’s elections, which the international community condemned as fraudulent.

It was not immediately clear what the goal of the new sanctions would be, but Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told a briefing with journalists in Washington that during her meetings in the US capital last month, she gave the Biden administration a specific list of targets that he would like to see sanctioned.

Tsikhanouskaya told reporters that he provided a list of companies that are monopolized by the Lukashenko regime “and his cronies,” including the Belaruskali potash company, as well as oil, logging and steel companies.

Belarusian opposition politics called on the Biden administration to enact stronger sanctions, saying it believed the initial tranches were more symbolic and “moral sanctions.” “They didn’t hit the regime and I think we really wasted time,” he said. Tsikhanouskaya added that the sectoral sanctions imposed by the European Union following the forced diversion of Lukashenko from a Ryanair flight and the arrest of a dissident Belarusian journalist on board were strong. The United States could follow that policy, he said, “and also consider imposing sectoral sanctions on Lukashenko,” he said.

Tsikhanouskaya met with President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and congressional legislators while in the US capital.

CNN has reached out to the State Department, the National Security Council and the Treasury about the planned actions.

‘Send a signal’

Tsikhanouskaya called on the international community this week to “send a signal of solidarity with Belarusians fighting for democracy and freedom” on August 9, the anniversary of the disputed election that sparked mass protests in Belarus.

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi announced on Friday the launch of the Belarusian Free Caucus, which will “push for democracy in Belarus, including free and fair elections; fight for a free and fair media protection for journalists and supporting neighboring countries, such as Lithuania and Poland, in their efforts to help the people of Belarus, according to a press release.

The administration announced sanctions in June as part of a coordinated response with the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union to the forced landing of the Ryanair flight by the Lukashenko government, as well as the “continued crackdown” in the former Soviet state.

US Ambassador to Belarus Julie Fisher told Senate lawmakers in early June that the administration was “focused on a new presidential decree as soon as possible.”

“He is absolutely right. 2006 was a long time ago,” he said in response to the commission’s chairman, Senator Bob Menendez, who referred to the presidential decree on Belarus issued by then-President George W. Bush.

“It was a very different world, and there is room for us to do a lot with a new presidential decree. That is an effort that is underway,” Fisher said at the time. “Our objective continues to be where we are, we are focused on promoting the accountability of those people and entities that are responsible or are accomplices of the violent repression of civil society by the regime and of these human rights abuses. Thus that we will continue to bring new authorities and new pressure tools. “

Lukashenko, who has been shunned by much of the international community and has been under US sanctions since 2006, has cracked down on protesters and journalists in the country. CNN reported this week that a possible prison camp for political dissidents may have been built about an hour from the capital city Minsk. Belarusian Olympic sprinter Kristina Timanovskaya defected to Poland after alleging that representatives of the national team tried to send her back to Belarus against her will after she criticized sports authorities.

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