Fresh sanctions target Belarusian authorities behind ‘sham’ election
Fresh sanctions target Belarusian authorities behind ‘sham’ election
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Six Belarusian officials and three companies have been hit with British sanctions in response to a “cynical pretence of democracy” in the country’s elections. The UK and Canada have joined forces to impose the fresh wave of sanctions after “sham” presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, which saw Vladimir Putin’s ally Alexander Lukashenko win a seventh five-year term in power.
Among the six people facing sanctions are the chairman of Belarus’ election commission Igor Vasilyevich Karpenko. Others facing a ban on travelling to the UK and spending money in the country are the leaders of security forces and prisons involved in a crackdown on the Belarusian regime’s political opponents.
They include Viktor Alexandrovich Dubrovka, Pavel Ivanovich Kazakov, and Andrey Mikhailovich Tsedrik, who all manage prisons in the eastern European nation, as well as Andrei Valerievich Ananenko and Mikhail Petrovitch Bedunkevich, the head and deputy head of the security force Gubopik.
Three Belarusian defence companies have also been sanctioned because of the country’s support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. They are radar manufacturer Alevkurp OJSC, ammunition maker Legmash Plant JSC, and drone builder KB Unmanned Helicopters (UavHeli).
