USA to impose new sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime

“You can expect the USA to take new measures regarding Belarus,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs David Kramer said at a press-conference.

The USA adopted a law “The Belarus Democracy Act” three years ago, in October 2004. Radio Svaboda posed the following questions to David Kramer: where the goals set by the law achieved? what impact did the law have on the situation in Belarus?

“I was in Belarus this year, in April, and met with vice head of the president’s administration Natallia Piatkevich. That was Ms. Piatkevich who arranged the meeting, not me. I treated it as a positive symptom, and I gave her a clear idea of the ways to improve the relations between Belarus and the USA. The main condition was the release of political prisoners - not a couple, which would also be welcomed, but all of them. We gave them the list of these political prisoners for them to know who we were talking about, so that everything was clear.

I’m disappointed to see that no political prisoners have been released. Moreover, we have seen the regime enforcing the pressure on the opposition and activists of non-governmental organizations. As a result, after my visit in April, we resolved to impose new sanctions against Belarus which was performed with much regret,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State said.

According to the politician, the USA is to take new steps against Lukashenka’s regime:

“I’d be delighted to talk about a progress in the relations between Washington and Minsk, but I have to talk about the new sanctions we have to introduce against the Belarusian regime. We have enlarged considerably the list of visa sanctions. You will learn about the new measures within a week. I will not give any details; we shall wait till the next week,” the politician said.

At the same time, according to David Kramer, the USA seeks “a closer cooperation with the opposition and civil society. We shall support those who promote democracy in Belarus so that they don’t feel alone. We have exercised this two-sided policy - pressure of the regime and support for the democratic forces - before and will keep to it in future. I hope it will bring positive results. We should be patient.”

“Lukashenka’s regime is being pressed from every quarter - by the USA, by the European Union, and apparently by Russia who has recently raised prices on energy resources. We shall see what the situation in early 2008 will be like and what impact higher prices will have on the regime,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State believes.