After the
disputed Belarusian presidential elections of 2020, several western countries announced sanctions against Belarusian officials.
Latvia has been the first country to do so on 31 August, The list included
President Lukashenko and all
Central Election Committee members as well as other senior state official and security forces commanders. The Baltic states were later followed by
Canada, the
United Kingdom, the
United States, the
European Union,
Switzerland and
New Zealand. These countries have sanctioned various numbers of Belarusian officials "for their roles in the fraudulent August 9, 2020 Belarus presidential election or the subsequent violent crackdown on peaceful protesters" Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada Japan, New Zealand and Ukraine introduced their sanctions. Some of the invasion-related sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities are listed in the 'Russian' sanctions lists of these countries.
Charles Michel,
President of the European Council went further on 19 August saying the EU would soon impose sanctions on a "substantial number" of individuals responsible for violence, repression, and election fraud. The European Commission announced it would divert €53 million earmarked for Belarus away from the government and towards civil society, victims of the state crackdown on protesters and the country's fight against the
coronavirus pandemic. • On 18 August, the
Lithuanian parliament agreed to impose economic sanctions. • On 19 August, the prime minister of Slovakia stated that the
Government of Slovakia introduced sanctions against Belarus in the new legislative session. • On 31 August, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed sanctions on 30 Belarusian officials, including Alexander Lukashenko. • On 10 September, the EU sanctions on Belarus were delayed by a
separate dispute between
Cyprus and
Turkey, which has
occupied the northern part of Cyprus since July 1974.
Greece and Cyprus were pushing for a sanction on Turkey in a dispute in the Eastern Mediterranean. • On 25 September, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed sanctions on around a hundred Belarus officials. • On 29 September, personal sanctions against members of the regime, including Alexander and Viktor Lukashenko, were imposed by the UK and Canada. 8 and 11 individuals were affected, respectively. The sanctions included travel bans and
asset freezes. • On 2 October, the EU imposed sanctions on 40 Belarusian officials. Lukashenko was exempted from the sanctions as the EU aims to encourage Lukashenko to engage in talks with the opposition. Hours later, Belarus retaliated with sanctions against EU officials. On the same day, the US imposed sanctions on 8 Belarusian individuals. • On 13 October, Switzerland joined the EU sanctions against 40 Belarusian individuals. • On 15 October, Canada imposed sanctions on 31 additional Belarusian individuals. • On 6 November, the EU imposed sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko and 14 other officials for repression of the pro-democracy movement following August's contested election. Their assets in EU member states were frozen and they are banned from entering EU territory. On the same day, Canada imposed sanctions on 13 Belarusian individuals. • On 19 November, the EU announced an upcoming list of sanctions targeting the country's firms and entrepreneurs that finance Lukashenko. According to Borrell, up to date no positive signs were seen from the regime and the new measures will increase economic pressure on the self-proclaimed president. • On 20 November, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Ukraine aligned themselves with the October EU sanctions against 40 Belarusian individuals. Separately on the same day, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania imposed sanctions on 28 Belarusian individuals. • On 24 November, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania aligned themselves with the November EU sanctions against 15 Belarusian individuals. • On 11 December, Switzerland joined the November EU sanctions against 15 Belarusian individuals. • On 17 December, the EU imposed a third round of economic sanctions on dozens of Belarusian individuals and entities. They include restrictive measures imposed on the head of Belarusian state television,
Ivan Eismont, Deputy Prime Minister
Anatol Sivak, Information Minister
Ihar Lutsky, and 26 other individuals. The sanctions package also included asset freezes on seven Belarusian companies, including arms exporter CJSC Beltechexport. • On 23 December, the US imposed sanctions on one Belarusian individual and four entities, including
Central Election Commission of Belarus.
2021 to early 2022 • On 26 January 2021, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania aligned themselves with the December EU sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities. • On 18 February, the UK imposed sanctions on 27 additional individuals. • On 22 March, Switzerland imposed sanctions on 29 Belarusian individuals and seven entities. • On 24 March, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania aligned themselves with the February EU decision to prolong the restrictive measures concerning Belarus. • On 25 March, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania put another 118 Belarusian individuals on their sanctions lists. • On 17 June, New Zealand introduced travel bans against more than fifty individuals associated with the Lukashenko regime, including himself and key members of his administration, the electoral commission, the police and other security forces. entities, with among others,
BelAZ and
MAZ automobile plants; the UK imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and 2 entities; the US imposed sanctions on 16 Belarusian individuals and five entities, namely,
Okrestina detention centre,
Internal Troops of Belarus,
GUBOPiK,
KGB,
Investigative Committee of Belarus; Canada imposed sanctions on 17 Belarusian individuals and five entities. • On June 24, the EU also imposed sanctions on Belarusian economy. • On 6 July, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania aligned themselves with the 21 June EU sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities. • On 7 July, Switzerland imposed sanctions on 78 individuals and seven organizations from Belarus. • On 12–13 July, Norway, Iceland, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania aligned themselves with the EU sanctions against Belarusian economy. • On 21 July, the UK imposed sanctions on the Agat Electromechanical Plant. • On 9 August (anniversary of the 2020 election), several countries added some Belarus-related individuals and entities to their sanctions lists. Namely, the UK announced aviation restrictions, trade and financial measures, and designated businessman
Mikhail Gutseriyev; the US sanctioned 23 individuals (government officials, kickboxer
Dmitry Shakuta, directors of several state-owned enterprises, businessmen such as
Mikalai Varabei and
Aliaksei Aleksin, and high-ranking members of law enforcement) and 21 entities (
Belaruskali,
Grodno tobacco factory, and
Belarus Olympic Committee, among others) contributing to the situation in Belarus; Canada imposed trade and financial restrictions. • On 11 August, Switzerland joined the June EU economic sanctions. • On 2 December, after the start of the
border crisis, several countries expanded their Belarus-related sanctions lists. Namely, the EU imposed a fifth round of restrictive measures against 17 individuals, targeting judges and top Belarusian officials, and 11 companies (
Belavia, among others); the UK imposed sanctions against 8 Belarusian individuals and
Belaruskali; the US
designated 20 Belarusian individuals (
Alexander Lukashenko's middle son
Dmitry,
GUBOPiK and State Border Committee officials, Belarusian sports official and politician
Dzmitry Baskau, and Dmitriy Korzyuk, the deputy Minister of internal affairs) and 12 entities, identified three aircraft as blocked property and imposed sovereign debt restrictions on Belarus; Canada blacklisted 24 individuals and 6 entities of Belarus. • On 10 December, the United States Department of State designated two heads of
Akrestsina Detention Center; both had already been designated by the
Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
United States Department of the Treasury. The new Swiss sanctions are identical to the 2 December EU designations. • On 22 December, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania aligned themselves with the 2 December EU sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities. • On 3 February 2022, the United States imposed visa restrictions on Belarusian nationals involved in extraterritorial counter-dissident activity, including the
Summer Olympics incident with
Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, under the
Khashoggi Ban.
Sanctions related to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Alexander Lukashenko and his family ===
Presidential Administration=== ===
Security Council of Belarus===
Members of Elections Commissions Judges ====
Constitutional Court of Belarus==== ====
Supreme Court of Belarus====
Lower courts Propaganda and information systems Regional officials Security Forces ====
KGB==== ====
Interior Ministry====
Central apparatus =====
GUBOPiK===== =====
OMON =====
Prison officials Regional police officials Prosecutor's Office ====
Investigative Committee==== ====
State Border Committee==== ===
Military=== ===
State Authority for Military Industry=== ===
State Control Committee===
Prime Minister and his deputies Other government officials Members of the National Assembly of Belarus Managers of the state-owned enterprises Businesspeople State university rectors Others Belarusian and Belarus-related entities Government institutions State−owned companies Other notable entities ==Circumvention of sanctions==