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The UK has imposed sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, his son and six other senior government officials deemed responsible for rigging the August presidential elections and cracking down on subsequent street protests.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced the sanctions Tuesday in coordination with a similar measure by Canada. “We will hold those responsible for the slaughter unleashed against the Belarusian people to account and defend our values of democracy and human rights,” he said.
Sanctions include an asset freeze and a travel ban imposed on Lukashenko himself. It is the first time that Britain’s new sanctions regime developed in the wake of Brexit has imposed sanctions on a sitting president. The other targets include Lukashenko’s son, Victor, and Igor Sergeenko, head of the presidential administration.
The Foreign Ministry said: “Alexander Lukashenko’s regime is responsible for a series of human rights violations against opposition figures, the media and the people of Belarus in the wake of rigged elections. Despite numerous appeals from the international community, it has refused to enter into a dialogue with the opposition and has instead chosen to redouble its violent repression.
The statement added: “The sanctions have been imposed in response to the torture and mistreatment of hundreds of peaceful protesters in custody following the fraudulent presidential elections. The Belarusian authorities have not taken any steps to hold those responsible accountable. Many opposition figures have been forcibly arrested or deported and denied re-entry, in clear display of Lukashenko’s disdain for dialogue with the opposition and for basic human rights. “
The move came after pressure from Lithuania and Poland, the two European Union countries that most support the protests, but it is not yet clear whether the United States is taking the same steps.
More than 12,000 people have been arrested since Lukashenko was declared a landslide winner in the August 9 elections, which the opposition denounced as rigged. Government officials prohibited British embassy observers from viewing the poll.
The British-Canadian decision was announced shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron, on a visit to Lithuania, met with opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya in a move that brings her closer to official recognition by Europe as the legitimate leader of Belarus. .
Tikhanovskaya, forced into exile in Lithuania under pressure from Lukashenko, said after meeting Macron that he had promised to help negotiate the release of those imprisoned in Belarus.
Macron’s meeting was a show of solidarity after the EU was unable to collectively agree on sanctions against Belarus after Cyprus said it would veto the measure until the EU also agreed to impose sanctions on Turkey as part of a dispute. separate on drilling rights in gas. Eastern Mediterranean fields.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has expressed deep personal frustration at the EU’s inability to show swift solidarity with the Belarusian opposition. It will not escape you that the UK and Canada have been able to act. There are also doubts about whether Germany wants to impose sanctions on the president on the grounds that it could close an avenue for discussion.
The meeting between Macron and Tikhanovskaya comes two days after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Belarus in the latest in a series of protests demanding Lukashenko’s resignation.
The demonstrations, often led by women, are the largest in the independent history of the former Soviet state.
Macron has advocated an entente with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but his initiative has been weakened by Putin’s support for Lukashenko.
Tikhanovskaya reported that Macron “said that time is very important as many people are suffering for the regime, many people are in jail and he will do everything possible to help free all political prisoners.”
