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Biden extends US sanctions against Belarus by another year

According to the US administration, actions of Belarus "pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States"

US President Joe Biden AP Photo/Susan Walsh

US President Joe Biden

© AP Photo/Susan Walsh

WASHINGTON, June 9. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden extended US sanctions against Belarusian officials by another year, signing a relevant decree and notifying the US Congress about it, the White House said on Tuesday.

According to the document, "the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Belarus and other persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States." They "undermine Belarus’s democratic processes or institutions," he said.

Washington also accused the Belarusian government of committing "human rights abuses related to political repression, including detentions and disappearance," and of engaging "in public corruption, including by diverting or misusing Belarusian public assets or by misusing public authority."

In this regard, the US president decided to extend sanctions against Belarus by another year, Biden said. The first decree of this kind was issued in 2006 by then president George Bush

Similar terms were used by Biden’s predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama. According to Washington, human rights situation in Belarus remains unchanged so far.

The blacklist of sanctions-hit Belarusian officials has ten names: the president, the chair of the Belarusian Security Council, the ministers of interior and justice, the head of the country’s security service KGB, the head of the Central Election Commission, the head of national TV and radio broadcaster and others.

On June 3, the United States re-imposed full blocking sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned enterprises previously granted relief under a series of General Licenses by the Treasury Department. As a result of this measure, US persons will be prohibited from engaging in transactions with these entities, their property, or their interests in property. Those companies are Belarusian Oil Trade House, Belneftekhim and its US subsidiary Belneftekhim USA, Inc., Belshina, Grodno Azot, Grodno Khimvolokno, Lakokraska, Naftan and Polotsk Steklovolokno.

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