The leader of the Belarusian opposition called on the United States to enact sanctions on the Belarusian government, mirroring the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
During meetings with the US State Department and members of Congress this week, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she discussed both strengthening future sanctions and closing existing loopholes. .
She also said she had presented the US government with evidence of the powerful Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Tsikhanouskaya said sanctions “must be the same in strength” as those imposed on Russia “but different in structure” and should target state banks and state enterprises.
The opposition leader said she spoke with officials in Washington, DC, about ways to “implement sanctions more effectively, close the remaining loopholes, freeze Lukashenka’s assets and block release the money that (International Monetary Fund) gave him.”
Tsikhanouskaya said it is proposed to use secondary sanctions to close such loopholes.
“We see how Russia is using Belarus to circumvent its own sanctions,” she said, citing the example of steel.
However, she said sanctions were being hit against the Lukashenko regime, citing what she described as letters from the Minister of Foreign Affairs seeking reunification sent in recent weeks.
“I hope that Lukashenka will not fool democratic countries again, as he has done many times before,” she said.
Tsikhanouskaya met with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman – a meeting attended in part by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – as well as Jim O’Brien, head of the Office of Coordination of Sanctions at the Department US Diplomacy.
Tsikhanouskaya told reporters that she gave O’Brien “documents of evidence of Lukashenka’s involvement in the war against Ukraine, as well as a list of companies and countries that helped circumvent sanctions.” .
She said that included “huge evidence of missile launches from our territory, movement of Russian equipment over Belarusian territory.”
“It was inside information about several internal orders for the deployment of various Russian military equipment on our territory,” she continued. “So people gathered this information for the entire duration of the war. They are well documented and we have forwarded this evidence to the government.”
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya said she did not believe the Belarusian military was involved in the launch of these missiles, instead, Mr. Lukashenko gave the land to Russian President Putin to use at will.
“It’s already World War. We were scared of the Third World War but it is already happening,” she said. “It’s a war between democracy and autocracy.”
