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Undersecretary of State Stephen Biegun said the United States is coordinating plans with the European Union and seeks to target sanctions on both people and export regulations.
“I hope that in just a few days we can finally establish an additional list of sanctions that we will apply, alongside those applied by the European Union,” Biegun told reporters by phone.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has previously hinted at new sanctions against Belarus, as authoritarian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko faces the biggest challenge to his government in 26 years.
For more than a month there have been unprecedented protests in Belarus over the presidential elections on August 9, which were declared won by Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994. The opposition and Western countries consider these elections to be rigged.
The opposition claims that its candidate Sviatlana Cichanouskaya is the legitimate winner of those elections. After the elections, under pressure from S. Cichanouskaja, the authorities withdrew to Lithuania.
S. Biegunas, who visited Lithuania last month, met with the Belarusian opposition candidate and expressed her support.
The US undersecretary of state said Washington supported his demands for “a truly free and fair presidential election, the release of all political prisoners and an investigation by the authorities of crimes against humanity.”
Lukashenko will visit Russia on Monday for the first time since the crisis began. The country’s president, Vladimir Putin, has expressed strong support for him and spoke of closer integration.
Mr. Biegun asked how Russia “can support such a regime and such violence against peaceful citizens exercising their constitutionally protected rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression.”
“If the Kremlin continues down this path, it runs the risk that the people of Belarus, who do not blame Russia, will oppose Moscow,” Biegun said.
Despite Biegun’s hopes of coordinating US action with the EU, sources say Cyprus is blocking the Community’s decision to impose new sanctions on Belarus.
This Mediterranean country, which Mr. Pompeo will visit on Saturday, wants similar measures against Turkey for the controversial exploration of natural gas.
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