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Foreign ministry to probe introduction of US sanctions against two Belarusian companies

The Belarusian foreign ministry plans to find out the "circumstances" of the introduction by the United States of sanctions against the BelTechExport arms trader and the Belarusian Optical Mechanical Association.

"The reasons for the application of these sanctions to the Belarusian companies are not clear to us. We will try to find out the circumstances in contacts with the American side," Andrey Savinykh, spokesman for the ministry, told BelaPAN on Wednesday.

The sanctions were introduced under the United States' Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act.

Washington linked the sanctions against the companies to "credible information indicating that they had transferred to or acquired from Iran, North Korea, or Syria equipment and technology listed on multilateral export control lists or otherwise having the potential to make a material contribution to weapons of mass destruction or cruise or ballistic missile systems."