The US imposed sanctions on eight Belarusian officials on Friday, accusing them of rigging the August 9th presidential election. The measures came after the EU slapped sanctions on 40 Belarusian officials.
“The United States and our international partners stand united in imposing costs on those who have undermined Belarusian democracy for years,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been under US sanctions since 2006, but was spared in this latest round, and was also not targeted by the EU. Lukashenko announced a plan to retaliate against the EU measures by imposing visa restrictions on EU officials. Lukashenko also recalled his ambassadors from Poland and Lithuania.
Earlier this week, the UK and Canada imposed sanctions on Lukashenko, his son, and other Belarusian officials.
The Belarusian presidential election results gave Lukashenko 80 percent of the vote, but the opposition rejected the results and are demanding a fresh round of voting. The US and EU have sided with the opposition and are also calling for new elections.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Lukashenko’s main opposition, fled Belarus after the election, fearing arrest. Since then, Tsikhanouskaya has met with senior US and European officials.
I wonder if we will sanction ourselves after our irregular election results are in.
The rule is if you find anything that even looks incorrect then it proves that the pro-NATO/US side won in a landslide even if there is no data to support it. A surveillance camera broke which made it impossible to verify that the actual number of votes counted at the polling station matched what we observed going into the building; conclusion, our guy won.
No because that doesn’t help to encircle Russia.
Headlines should be about who we DON’T sanction.
“US Sanctions Belarus Over Disputed Presidential Election”
“US Imposes New Sanctions on Syria”
“Trump Admin Preps Broad New Iran Sanctions”
And this was a slow week.
While the Blob travels the world preaching hatred against Russia and China. Only the Pope had the spine to throw him out.
Oh noes! The coup failed and Uncle Sam’s mad.