Sanctions against Belarus

2021: US imposes sanctions against Belarusian public debt and son Lukashenko

In early December 2021, the United States introduced new sanctions against Belarus. They included 20 people and 12 organizations, including:

• the middle son of the President of Belarus Dmitry Lukashenko (he holds the post of chairman of the central council of the Presidential Sports Club and is a member of the National Olympic Committee of Belarus);
• Head of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption (GUBOPiK) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus Andrei Parshin;
• the husband of the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus Olga Chemodanova Denis Chemodanov.

US imposes sanctions against Belarusian public debt and son Lukashenko

According to the website of the US Treasury Department, sanctions were imposed on Dmitry Lukashenko for "being a member of the family of a high-ranking representative of the authorities, responsible or involved in corruption activities."

US sanctions also affected new issues of the Belarusian public debt - the US Treasury indicates a ban on transactions with debt issued for more than 90 days. Since June 2021, similar restrictions have already been applied by the European Union, Canada and Switzerland.

According to Brian O'Toole, former senior adviser to OFAC, the new US sanctions will significantly affect Belarusian government administrations. The country's Ministry of Finance is likely to lose the opportunity to attract dollars in the domestic market, since American correspondent banks will have to stop servicing these transactions, the expert explained.

The expansion of US sanctions was carried out simultaneously with the UK, Canada and the EU.

The Foreign Ministry of Belarus announced the preparation of a tough response to the new sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.

European officials came up with some kind of aggression from peaceful Belarus and, despite common sense, the facts provided, the technical consultations initiated and the additional measures taken by the Belarusian side to curb illegal migration, hypocritically dealt a sanctions blow, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by Interfax[1]

Notes