Ukraine may designate Belarus as sponsor of terrorism

August 31, BPN. Ukrainian lawmakers have introduced a bill to designate Belarus as a state sponsor of terrorism for providing its territory and military facilities to the Russian troops that invaded Ukraine.

The bill, if adopted, would urge international organizations, parliaments and governments to do the same.

The bill sponsors noted that Belarus helped Russian troops approach Kyiv in two days, capture the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, occupy northern Ukrainian areas, and fire more than 600 missiles from its territory.

The bill says that Minsk assisted Russian troops in committing crimes in Ukraine’s occupied territories that are classified as terrorism by the international law.

According to the Ukrainian MPs, the designation of Belarus as a sponsor of terrorism will prompt other countries to impose additional international sanctions against it, “accelerating the victory of Ukraine in the war.”

In July, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution urging the Department of State to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Latvia and Lithuania have already done it.