U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating three Belarussian entities and nine individuals and identifying one presidential aircraft as blocked property.
These designations build on sanctions imposed on individuals and entities in Belarus in response to the ongoing “brutal crackdown against the pro-democracy movement and civil society surrounding the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election,” the US treasury department said in a statement on Friday.
These actions also underscore the United States’ willingness to hold the regime in Minsk to account for its complicity in “the Russian Federation’s ongoing unjustified war of choice against Ukraine.” “The authoritarian Lukashenko regime relies on state-owned enterprises and key officials to generate substantial revenue that enables oppressive acts against the Belarusian people,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson.
“We remain committed to imposing costs on the Lukashenka regime for its suppression of democracy and support for Putin’s war of choice.” Concurrently and in the spirit of Belarusian Freedom Day, the Department of State is announcing actions to impose visa restrictions on an additional 14 individuals, including regime officials involved in policies to “threaten and intimidate the Belarusian people, for their involvement in undermining democracy.” As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, “The United States continues to promote accountability for the Lukashenko regime’s violence surrounding the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election in Belarus, its ongoing brutal crackdown against the pro-democracy movement and other elements of Belarusian society, its flagrant human rights abuses, and its facilitation of the Russian Federation’s illegal war against Ukraine.” The Department of State is announcing actions to impose visa restrictions on an additional 14 individuals under Presidential Proclamation 8015 for their involvement in undermining democracy in Belarus. Specifically, these individuals include regime officials involved in policies to threaten and intimidate brave Belarusians exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms at great personal cost.
Today’s actions further align the United States with actions taken by our partners and Allies. The United States will continue to impose costs on the regime and those who support it for their repression of the people of Belarus, and the regime’s ongoing support for Russia’s “unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine.”
Source: Kuwait News Agency