US, UK and Canada increase economic sanctions on Belarus

The U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted 19 Belarusian officials and 14 other military-related companies subject to visa restrictions.

“Lukashenko’s support for Russia’s unstoppable war against Ukraine is costing Belarus dearly,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

In August 2020, following presidential elections deemed fraudulent, Washington explained that Lukashenko resorted to “brutal repression” first against peaceful protesters and then against civil society organizations and independent media.

The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office sanctioned three companies and four individuals in the effort, all in charge of prison colonies, London points out, as being responsible for participating in the repression of Belarusian resistance.

“Four years after the brutal scenes we witnessed in Belarus, Lukashenko’s relentless crackdown on civil society shows no sign of abating,” said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

The British diplomatic chief lamented that Belarusian civil society and independent media had been suppressed by “a regime that has no respect for democracy or human rights”.

According to the British Foreign Office, at least six political prisoners have been detained since 2021.

“We support the people of Belarus and their quest for freedom and democracy,” he said, announcing an investment of 2.5 million pounds (about 2.9 million euros) to support the causes of human rights and Belarusian civil society.

Canada, for its part, imposed new sanctions on six military and defense industry companies and 10 others, including judges, for “grossly violating human rights obligations and arbitrarily sentencing and punishing defenders of democracy.”

According to Canadian diplomacy, these organizations helped Russia escape Western sanctions by supplying and repairing military equipment, as well as a state-owned company that crushed employees’ right to peaceful protest after the August 2020 election.