BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

13/12/2007

US may slap new sanctions on Belarus

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Belarus warned Thursday that Washington could impose new sanctions on the ex-Soviet nation over its refusal to free political prisoners and allow democratic freedoms.

Ambassador Karen Stewart said the new measures, which would follow previous travel restrictions against Belarusian officials and sanctions against a state oil processing company, could target other state-owned Belarusian companies.

"In the continued absence of progress on the part of the Belarusian authorities, the United States prepares to take further steps against other state enterprises," Stewart said at a briefing.

She emphasized that the U.S. administration considers six jailed Belarusian opposition activists to be political prisoners. Belarusian authorities have said the six, including Alexander Kozulin, a candidate in the 2006 presidential election, were serving their sentences for criminal offenses.

Stewart said the new sanctions could target state enterprises in which senior Belarusian officials have stakes.

"Because we haven't seen fundamental progress, the United States is taking steps to increase our sanctions on the officials and institutions we find responsible for repression in Belarus," she said.

Earlier this year, U.S. authorities leveled sanctions against Belarus's state-controlled oil-processing and chemicals company, Belneftekhim, freezing its assets and barring American companies from doing business with it.

Stewart strongly condemned the police crackdown on an opposition protest Wednesday.

About 200 participants in the demonstration opposed a potential merger between Belarus and Russia. The protest came on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Belarus Thursday.

Police broke up the protest, beating opposition leaders Anatoly Lebedko and Zmitser Fedaruk. Fedaruk, a leader of the opposition Young Front, was knocked off his feet and stomped on by riot police. He was bundled into an ambulance, unconscious.

Lebedko and Fedaruk recently returned from the U.S., where they met with President George W. Bush.

Last year, the United States and the European Union slapped travel sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than a decade, and other senior government officials.

The Belarusian leader has quashed dissent and opposition groups and built a Soviet-style, centrally controlled economy that has been heavily reliant on cheap Russian energy supplies.

The travel sanctions followed the arrests and harassment of political opponents and others during the 2006 election, which gave Lukashenko a third term but was sharply criticized by Belarusian opposition groups and many Western governments. Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source:

http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6445479&subject=general&action=article