The discussion of the new restrictions began after the meeting of Tikhanovskaya with Sullivan and Blinken, the newspaper writes. According to the adviser to the leader of the Belarusian opposition, the sanctions will affect the oil and potash sectors of the economy
Joe Biden
The administration of US President Joe Biden is considering the possibility of introducing new economic sanctions against Belarus and head of state Alexander Lukashenko, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The discussion began after the visit of the leader of the Belarusian opposition, former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to Washington and her meetings with Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. At the meetings, she called for stricter restrictions.
As Tikhanovskaya’s adviser Franak Vyachorka told the publication, representatives of the State Department announced their intention to impose sanctions on the Belarusian potash and oil sectors. Tikhanovskaya said at the meeting that these industries are close to Lukashenka, and are also an important part of the Belarusian economy.
U.S. officials did not discuss the timing or goals of the new sanctions. “We are not going to announce specific actions,” a senior US administration official told the WSJ. However, he added that Washington, together with its allies, will continue to demand responsibility from the Lukashenka regime for its actions, including through sanctions.
State Department spokesman Ned Price declined to comment, the Belarusian Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request from the WSJ.
Tikhanovskaya began her visit to the United States on July 18. On July 19, she met with Blinken and US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, later with Sullivan. Following the meeting, Biden’s adviser promised that Washington would continue to impose sanctions against official Minsk to support the Belarusian opposition. According to him, the administration demands to conduct an international investigation of the events of May 23, when a Ryanair plane was forcibly landed in Minsk, to release political prisoners, to start a political dialogue with representatives of the opposition and to hold elections under the supervision of the OSCE.
The official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz, called Tikhanovskaya’s visit “a meaningless two-week voyage” and “a tourist trip paid for at the expense of American taxpayers”. “At the pseudo-meetings that you mention in your question, the Belarusian side is not represented,” he told reporters, adding that official Minsk is constantly in contact with the US Embassy in Belarus and the State Department.
The opposition leader has repeatedly called for expanding sanctions against Belarus, including organizations that “finance the regime”.
At the end of June, the United States imposed sanctions against 16 Belarusian citizens and five organizations. Individuals are prohibited from entering the United States, and their assets in the country, if any, will be blocked. Transactions with companies and citizens from the sanctions list are prohibited. The European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom have also imposed new sanctions against Belarus in connection with the Ryanair incident and the detention of the former editor-in-chief of the NEXTA Telegram channel Roman Protasevich in Minsk.
Western countries imposed sanctions against Belarus after the presidential elections of the republic, held in 2020. They considered the results of the vote falsified and criticized the actions of the authorities of the republic during the dispersal of rallies. Lukashenko said that the elections were held legally, and the protests in the country are led from abroad.
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