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USA to decide on sanctions against Belarusian officials within days

The United States will decide on sanctions against Belarusian government officials within days, Thomas O. Melia, the United States’ deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, told reporters in Minsk on January 24, BelaPAN said. 

The US diplomat declined to comment on what sanctions could be introduced, noting that Washington was discussing the matter with the European Union and warning that Alyaksandr Lukashenka had just a few days left to stop his crackdown on political opponents and avoid the sanctions.

Mr. Melia stressed that the sanctions would target only the government officials responsible for the crackdown on opposition activists.

Washington wishes better relations with Belarus and called for broader bilateral cooperation before the election, according to the deputy assistance secretary of state.

Noting that the United States had conditioned better relations with Belarus on the conduct of December`s presidential election, the US diplomat described the post-election events in Belarus as unacceptable and inconsistent with Belarus` international commitments.

Mr. Melia said that he had met with officers of the Belarusian foreign ministry`s America and humanitarian cooperation departments on January 22. The US diplomat asked the officers to relay a message to the foreign minister that better relations between the two countries depended on whether the Belarusian authorities would release all of the detained opponents and drop politically-motivated charges against them.