BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/04/2008

U.S. not ruling out further sanctions against Belarusian companies - diplomat

MINSK. May 8 (Interfax) - Jonathan Moore, the U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Belarus, said the U.S. could impose further sanctions on Belarusian companies.

The number of political prisoners in Belarus has unfortunately increased from one to three, Moore told an online conference on Thursday [referring to Alexander Kozulin, entrepreneur Sergei Parsyukevich and youth activist Andrei Kim]. This has the potential to lead to additional sanctions with regards to Belarus, he said.

Moore said sanctions could be introduced against other Belarusian state-run companies.

The United States imposed sanctions on Belneftekhim last year, he said. Subsequently, the Belarusian authorities freed all political prisoners, except Alexander Kozulin, Moore said. But since this process came to a halt, a clarification of the sanctions was published, he added. The United States does not see the sanctions as sanctions against the Belarusian people, Moore said.

The sanctions aim to jolt Belarus into reacting, he said. Political and economic reforms, including liberation of political prisoners, would be seen as a positive reaction, the U.S. diplomat said. The Belarusian authorities took certain measures, but then everything was reversed, and only a negative result can be seen, More said.

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/3/391755/news.aspx

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