US Sanctions Against Lukashenko & His Gang

US Sanctions Against Lukashenko & His Gang

US president George W. Bush has extended sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko and a number of Belarusian officials. Assets of the leader of Belarus and other top officials responsible for rigging presidential election results and disbanding protest rallies in 2006, were frozen last year. A son of the Belarusian president, Viktor Lukashenko (he is on the photo with his father), was blacklisted too.

As the press service of the White House informs, on Thursday (6/14/2007) George Bush signed a document stating that "blocking of assets" of those persons which come within the jurisdiction of the US, to be prolonged for a year, Radio Svaboda informs.

On June 19, 2006 the US President signed a decree on financial sanctions against 10 Belarusian officials, "responsible for undermining democratic developments and institutions, violations of human rights, for state corruption". These officials are a "threat to the US National Security". First a list of 10 officials was attached to the decree:

1. Aleksandr Lukashenko;

2. Viktor Lukashenko, a member of the Security Council, a Presidential aide;

3. Viktor Golovanov, Justice Minister;

4. Aleksandr Zimouski, the chairman of the Belarusian State TV and Radio Company;

5. Vladimir Naumov, Interior Minister;

6. Dmitriy Pavlichenko, SOBR commander;

7. Natalya Petkevich, a deputy head of the Presidential Administration;

8. Stepan Sukharenko, the KGB chairman;

9. Viktor Sheyman, the Security Council secretary;

10. Ludmila Yarmoshyna, the chairperson of the Central Elections Committee.

On February 27, 2007 the U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions against 6 more high-ranking Belarusian officials:

1. Petr Miklashevich, Prosecutor General;

2. Yuriy Padabed, Lieutenant Colonel of the Special Riot Police in Minsk;

3. Aleksandr Radkov, Minister of Education;

4. Vladimir Rusakevich, Minister of Information;

5. Yuriy Sivakov, former minister of the interior and former minister of sport and tourism;

6. Oleg Slizhevskiy, head of the Public Associations Department of Justice Ministry.

Sanctions against these six persons could be prolonged after February 2008.