US official says crackdown escalates under Łukašenka’s, Putin’s regimes

November 22, BPN. Policies of Alaksandr Łukašenka’s and Vladimir Putin’s regimes have led to escalated repression in Belarus and Russia, a special assistant to US President Joe Biden, Rob Berschinski, has told Delfi in an interview.

He said the United States believes that the Lithuanian government and people will continue to support those who’ve managed to flee from these countries. We must continue to support the Russian and Belarusian people as much as we can in the face of these reprisals, he added.

The US and its partners put serious economic and diplomatic pressure on the regimes in Moscow and Minsk over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In particular, sanctions were imposed on Russia’s leading financial institutions and National Wealth Fund, deliveries of key technologies were hampered, and the Russian and Belarusian elites’ financial ties and assets were put at risk.