BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

26/12/2007

PM: U.S. sanctions against Belarus unacceptable

MOSCOW, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Any possible U.S. economic sanctions against Belarus for political reasons are unacceptable, Belarussian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said here on Wednesday.

Sidorsky, who was here for Wednesday's session of the Russia-Belarus Union State Council of Ministers, described any U.S. sanctions against it as "discriminatory," the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Sidorsky made the remarks after U.S. ambassador to Belarus Karen Stewart warned in Minsk on Dec. 13 that Washington could impose new sanctions on the nation over its refusal to free political prisoners and allow democratic freedoms.

Any sanctions will run counter to international laws and the principles of "noninterference in a sovereign state's internal affairs," Sidorsky said.

The new sanctions could target other state-owned Belarussian companies, Stewart said. The previous U.S. sanctions against the nation include travel restrictions against Belarussian officials and sanctions against a state oil processing company.

"By imposing sanctions, the United States violated its obligations to abstain from sanctions because Belarus joined the nuclear non-proliferation treaty," the prime minister said.

Belarus is doing its best to prevent such measures from being imposed on the country, Sidorsky said.

Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov on Wednesday voiced support for Belarus, saying that Moscow considers the U.S. decision to impose new economic sanctions against Belarus as "politicized."

"We think that it is inadmissible to put pressure on Belarus under different pretexts," the Russian prime minister said.

"It is necessary to do everything possible to cancel this decision," he said.

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

Last year, the United States and the European Union also slapped travel sanctions on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Source:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/26/content_7318566.htm