US Expands Belarus Sanctions Authority, Issues New Sanctions
President Joe Biden issued a new executive order to expand existing U.S. sanctions authorities against Belarus and issued a host of new designations targeting the country’s government for last year’s “fraudulent” presidential elections. The Aug. 9 order authorizes sanctions against a broad range of government officials, oligarchs, entities and private companies, including those operating in Belarus’ defense, energy, security, potassium chloride, transportation and construction sectors. Sanctions are also authorized against people or entities with links to “public corruption” in Belarus or transactions deemed to be “deceptive or structured” to evade U.S. sanctions on behalf of the Belarusian government.
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The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control used the order and previous authorities to immediately sanction 23 people and 21 entities. The officials and entities were involved in the “violent crackdown” on protesters in the aftermath of last year’s disputed elections or the government’s forced landing of a civilian Ryanair flight in May (see 2105250027), or “profit from or sustain the Belarusian regime at the expense of the Belarusian people.” OFAC said the sanctions represented its largest-ever tranche of sanctions imposed against Belarus.
The White House said the U.S. will continue to use the new executive order and other sanctions authorities to “impose costs” on Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko regime until it allows an international investigation of the Ryanair flight diversion, releases political prisoners, stops targeting activists and holds fair elections. Future sanctions under Biden’s new order can target “any” sector of the Belarusian economy deemed appropriate by the Treasury and State departments. “The United States will continue to stand up for human rights and free expression, while holding the Lukashenko regime accountable, in concert with our allies and partners,” Biden said in a statement.
OFAC notably sanctioned what it said are the Lukashenko regime’s “wallets” -- people and entities that continue to provide the sanctioned government money to finance a “corrupt and brutal regime.” They include Belarusian oligarch Mikalai Varabei and his current and former companies BelKazTrans, Novopolotsk Limited Liability Company Interservice, Absolutbank and others; former government official Aliaksey Aleksin and his former companies Inter Tobacco and Energo-Oil and Belneftegaz; as well as Dana Holdings, Dana Astra and others.
The agency also sanctioned two major government-owned entities: Belaruskali OAO, a top global producer of fertilizer ingredient potassium chloride, and Grodno Tobacco Factory Neman, a tobacco factory and “major source” of illegal cigarettes in the European Union. Newly issued Belarus General License No. 4 authorizes certain activities involving Belaruskali OAO to provide U.S. people and companies 120 days to wind down transactions with the company or any business it owns by 50% or more. New frequently asked questions 916, 917 and 918 further detail the license and explain the scope of the executive order.
Others designated include the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus and its leadership team, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Gomel Regional Executive Committee and five senior government officials who defended the Ryanair flight diversion: Aliaksei Mikalaevich Auramenka, Artsiom Sikorski, Leanid Churo, Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Khoroneko and Aleh Haidukevich. “We stand with the people of Belarus and will continue to use every tool available, including the new sanctions authority the President signed today, to hold the Lukashenko regime to account for its human rights abuses, corruption, and attacks on democracy,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
The United Kingdom and Canada announced similar sanctions, which were coordinated with the U.S. The U.K.’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation sanctioned Mikhail Safarbekovich Gutseriev -- a Russian financier of the Lukashenko regime -- and amended six other designations. Canada announced new sanctions against “key sectors of the Belarusian economy” that “minimize Belarusian state actors’ access to international finance.” The targeted sectors include transferable securities and money market instruments, debt financing, insurance and reinsurance, petroleum products and potassium chloride products.