US Sanctions Belarusian State-Owned Firms, Issues General Licenses
The U.S. this week announced a new set of sanctions against Belarus, targeting eight people, five entities and one aircraft with ties to President Alexander Lukashenko's regime. The designations target people and entities that have helped the government evade sanctions or are involved in the government’s “continued civil society repression” or its “complicity” in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued two new general licenses to authorize certain transactions with two of the newly sanctioned entities.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
OFAC sanctioned Open Joint Stock Company Belavia Belarusian Airlines, the state-owned flagship carrier of Belarus, for being owned by the Belarusian government. The agency also sanctioned EW-301PJ, a Canadair Regional Jet CR-200ER aircraft, operated by Belavia and used by senior Lukashenko regime officials.
New General License No. 9 authorizes certain transactions with the airline, including exports of goods and services to “ensure the safety of civil aviation.” Those transactions, including any that involve entities the airline owns by 50% or more, are authorized through 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8.
The agency also sanctioned Open Joint Stock Company Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407, a state-owned company and one of Belarus’ largest aircraft component manufacturer and repair facilities. Also sanctioned were Joint Stock Company Byelorussian Steel Works Management Company of Holding Byelorussian Metallurgical Company, a state-owned steel producer; Miami-based Bel Kap Steel LLC, which is owned 50% by Byelorussian Steel Works; and Dmitriy Aleksandrovich Korchik, general director of Byelorussian Steel Works.
New General License No. 8 authorizes certain activities “necessary to the wind down” of any transactions with Byelorussian Steel Works and entities it owns by 50% or more. Those transactions are authorized through 12:01 a.m. EDT on Oct. 9.
OFAC also sanctioned the Department of Financial Investigations of The State Control Committee of the Republic of Belarus, which has cracked down on independent online media outlets, and four of the department’s senior officials: Igor Anatolievich Marshalov, Victor Frantsevich Selitskiy, Viktor Ivanovich Franskevich and Artem Konstantinovich Dunko.
Others sanctioned include Lukashenko confidant Aliaksey Ivanavich Aleksin’s sons, Dzmitry Aliakseevich Aleksin, Vital Aliakseevich Aleksin, and his wife, Ina Vladimirovna Aleksina, “in order to further enforce its previous sanctions actions against Aleksin and impede Lukashenka’s access to discrete funds,” Treasury said.