US imposes new round of sanctions on Belarus | world

On Thursday, the United States announced a new round of sanctions against Belarus, including restrictions on the country’s sovereign debt issuance operations, in response to the migrant crisis on its border with Poland.

This new round of sanctions, the fifth since 2020, is being taken in coordination with the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, which have also reported their own sanctions, similar to the United States but with some nuances.

Thus, banning US citizens and entities from participating in Belarusian sovereign debt issuances, for example, is an order that European and Canadian partners have already implemented in June for their citizens, but the US has not joined in. .

“These actions reaffirm the US government’s commitment to impose costs on Alexander Lukashenko’s regime for allowing corruption, human rights abuses, inhumane exploitation of vulnerable groups, and regulation of illegal immigration,” he said in a statement issued by the Treasury Department.

They punish people and entities

In addition to restrictions on sovereign debt operations, the United States has also added twenty other individuals and twelve Belarusian entities to its sanctions list, banning all of their property and interests on U.S. soil and banning U.S. citizens. Enter into any kind of business transaction with them.

This is the fifth round of US sanctions against Belarus since the last presidential election, in which Lukashenko once again won, and the first since the crisis triggered by the use of migrants on Belarus’ borders with neighboring countries such as Poland and Latvia. and Lithuania.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, speaking at a White House press briefing, said the sanctions are the United States’ response “to the increased repression of more than 900 political prisoners in Belarus, as well as the brutal exploitation of vulnerable migrants and migrants. Coordinated by the EU’s Migrant Smuggling System “.

EL (efe, Reuters)