Overview
On December 2, 2021, the United States, the EU, the UK, and Canada announced a new round of coordinated sanctions in response to their concerns regarding the Belarusian government’s continued undermining of democracy, its violations of human rights, and its alleged orchestration of irregular migration into the EU. The latest sanctions include blocking sanctions and asset freezes, as well as new restrictions on US persons dealing in Belarusian sovereign debt.
For more information on earlier US, UK, and Canadian sanctions related to Belarus, see our August 13, 2021, blog post and April 19, 2021, blog post.
US Sanctions
SDN Designations and General License No. 5
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) named 20 individuals and 12 entities in Belarus as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 14038 and 13405. The targets include Belarusian government officials; state-owned entities; entities in Belarus’s defense, security and potassium chloride (potash) sectors; and individuals and entities closely linked to the family of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In particular, OFAC designated Lukashenko’s middle son and the Republican State-Public Association Presidential Sports Club for being “part of an alleged corruption scheme in Belarus.”
All property and interests in property of these SDNs (and any entity that is owned 50 percent or more by one or more SDNs) must be “blocked,” i.e., frozen if within the United States or in the possession or control of a US person. Additionally, there is a broad prohibition on dealing directly or indirectly with the SDNs or their “blocked” property to the extent US persons are involved. A number of the SDNs are also subject to targeted EU, UK, and Canadian financial sanctions.
Among the entities newly designated by OFAC are:
- State-owned tourism company Republican Unitary Enterprise Tsentrkurort;
- Cargo carrier JSC Transaviaexport Airlines;
- Open Joint Stock Company Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) and its subsidiary Agrorozkvit LLC;
- Foreign Limited Liability Company Slavkali, another producer of potash fertilizers; and
- Three entities in the defense and security sectors that supply Belarusian military and law enforcement agencies.
# # #