US Should Impose 'Very Serious' Sanctions Against Belarus, House Members Say

Two House members said there is bipartisan support for increased sanctions against Belarus, urging the U.S. to quickly designate Belarusian officials for the unfair elections held earlier this month. But despite the consensus, the U.S. has been too slow to impose designations, experts said. “They're doing too little, and they're moving too slowly,” Michael Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former foreign policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said during an Aug. 27 event hosted by the think tank. “The West needs to demonstrate to all those mid-ranking people in the [government] that if you engage in repression, you're going to be sanctioned.”

Reps. Bill Keating, D-Mass. and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., both said the U.S. should follow the European Union’s lead and impose sanctions (see 2008180009). They said the sanctions should not only target Belarusian officials but also Russian operatives for assisting Alexander Lukashenko, who claims to have won the country’s presidential elections. “This is a moment where we need to make it very clear to Russia the consequences of intervention,” Kinzinger said during the event. “I think we need to put together with our allies packages of potential sanctions that will be very permanent and very serious.”

Keating said he supports “advancing sanctions alongside, and in coordination with, our EU partners,” adding that Congress is united in that effort. “It's incumbent on us … to help and stay engaged and support” the Belarusian people, he said.

Natalia Kaliada, a Belarusian political exile and CEO of the Belarus Free Theatre, said the country is in danger of becoming a Venezuela-like regime. “Sanctions needed to be put in place three weeks ago,” she said during the event. “It's not possible to allow, in this particular time, to create a Venezuela right in the center of Europe.”

The U.S. should increase sanctions on Lukashenko and other specific members of the government, Carpenter said. But he said broad, sectoral sanctions, similar to restrictions in place against Russia, would achieve the wrong results. “Those would punish the Belarusian people. There's no point in doing that,” Carpenter said. “The U.S. needs to put in place, not just 20 sanctions on 20 people, but something that is more far-reaching … and broad in terms of targeting the agents of repression in Belarus.”

A senior administration official pointed to the fact that the U.S. already has some sanctions in place against Belarus and Lukashenko but declined to say whether the U.S. will introduce more measures. “While we won't preview new sanctions, the United States will not hesitate to take action against those responsible for abusing the rights of Belarusian citizens,” the official said.