U.S. President extends sanctions against Łukašenka, Belarusian officials for another year

June 14, BPN. U.S. President Joe Biden has extended the sanctions against Alaksandr Łukašenka and a number of senior Belarusian officials for another year.

George W. Bush had originally imposed the sanctions against Belarusian officials after the conviction of former presidential hopeful Alaksandr Kazulin back in 2006.

Sciapan Sucharenka, ex-chair of the Committee for the State Security (KGB), ex-Interior Minister Uładzimir Navumaŭ, Alaksandr Zimoŭski, ex-head of the state TV, and Lidzia Jarmošyna, ex-chair of the central election commission, were also subject to sanctions at that time, since the U.S. considered them a “threat to national security and foreign policy.” All these people are no longer in the above positions, and some of them have left Belarus. 

On August 9, 2021, after the allegedly rigged presidential elections in Belarus and crackdown on the civil society, President Biden expanded sanctions against Belarusian officials for “suppressing democracy and the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” as well as for threats to international civilian air travel, referring to the forced Ryanair flight landing in Minsk in May 2021.