The administration of US President Joe Biden is considering the possibility of introducing new economic sanctions against Belarus and its President Alexander Lukashenko against the background of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s visit to the States. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal newspaper with reference to participants and assistants of events dedicated to the visit of Tikhanovskaya.
On July 18, former presidential candidate of Belarus Svetlana Tikhanovskaya arrived in the United States for a working visit, and on July 19 she met with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, and then with Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The discussion of the new restrictions began after Tikhanovskaya herself called for them. It is worth noting that she did it for the first time. According to the adviser to the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Franak Vyachorka, the sanctions will affect the potash and oil sectors of Belarus, since these industries are close to Alexander Lukashenko and are important for the country’s economy.
“We won’t announce specific actions. But I will say that you can expect from the United States, as well as our partners and allies, that we will continue to hold the Lukashenka regime accountable for its actions, including through sanctions,” — a senior US administration official told the Wall Street Journal.
But mostly, American officials did not comment on the goals, timing and areas of the new sanctions.
The official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz, said that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s visit to the United States is “a meaningless two — day voyage” and “a tourist trip paid for at the expense of American taxpayers”.
In Minsk, Tikhanovskaya’s visit to the United States and the discussion of sanctions in the US administration see undisguised interference in the internal affairs of Belarus and, as Glaze added, that “a course is being implemented to undermine the sovereignty of Belarus”.
