Biden Administration Weighs New Sanctions Against Belarus

The administration’s deliberations come on the heels of a visit to Washington last week by

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,

who opposed Mr. Lukashenko in last year’s contested election. In meetings with lawmakers and senior administration officials, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya pressed for tougher sanctions.

Ms. Tsikhanouskaya met with President Biden’s top two foreign-policy aides, national security adviser

Jake Sullivan

and Secretary of State

Antony Blinken.

Mr. Biden didn’t meet with the dissident leader.

Franak Viacorka, a senior adviser to Ms. Tsikhanouskaya, said State Department officials indicated their intent to enact new sanctions, specifically on the Belarusian potash and crude-oil sectors, which Ms. Tsikhanouskaya said are close to Mr. Lukashenko, in addition to being important parts of the country’s economy.

U.S. officials wouldn’t discuss the timing or targets of new sanctions.

“We’re not going to preview specific actions,” a senior administration official said. “But I will say you can expect the United States, alongside our partners and allies, will continue to hold the Lukashenko regime accountable for its actions, including through sanctions.”

State Department spokesman

Ned Price

declined to discuss specific U.S. actions. The department declined to comment Friday on possible sanctions on crude oil and potash.

The Belarusian Embassy in Washington didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this year, the European Union imposed sanctions on roughly 20{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} of the Belarusian potash industry, as well as on the country’s petroleum industry, excluding crude oil, leaving an opportunity for the U.S. to compound the impact of the measures.

In May, Mr. Lukashenko drew international ire when he sent a MiG-29 warplane to redirect a Ryanair commercial flight on its way from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, to Minsk to arrest one of its passengers, an opposition journalist.

U.S. leverage is limited against Belarus, a small economy in Europe led for 27 years by an authoritarian president and supported by neighboring Russia. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya told reporters that U.S. action would be “impactful,” representing condemnation from Washington.

“This is a fight of light and darkness,” she told reporters, adding that Mr. Lukashenko is “becoming more cruel now.”

The State Department’s Mr. Price called her meeting with Mr. Blinken and at least two senior advisers an “unprecedented level of engagement with a Belarusian leader in this century.”

Following Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s meeting with Mr. Sullivan, he said, “The United States, together with partners and allies, will continue to hold the Lukashenko regime accountable for its actions, including through the imposition of sanctions.”

Some critics of Mr. Lukashenko have suggested that the U.S. work to investigate and expose alleged corruption among top officials and industry leaders as a way of pressuring the regime.

Ms. Tsikhanouskaya acknowledged concerns that Western pressure on Minsk could push the country closer to Russia, a process that has already begun. “The next step is loss of independence,” she said.

The dissident leader also met with U.S. lawmakers during her visit to Washington. “I hope the images of Tsikhanouskaya in the halls of Congress send a clear message to Lukashenko that the United States stands with the Belarusian people,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.).

Write to Brett Forrest at [email protected] and William Mauldin at [email protected]