Canada imposes sanctions on anniversary of fraudulent 2020 Belarus election

Canada imposed sanctions on 10 people and six entities on the anniversary of the fraudulent 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement Friday.

The sanctions are in response to what Joly describes as ongoing and systematic human rights abuses in Belarus, and support for Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.

Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko marked 30 years in power in that country last month.

He won his sixth term in office in 2020 in balloting widely regarded domestically and abroad as rigged.

The list of sanctions includes judges who Canada says have arbitrarily condemned citizens for expressing their opposition to the 2020 elections.

The sanctions extend to state-owned enterprises that intimidated and fired employees involved in peaceful protests and strikes after the 2020 election.

It also includes people who co-ordinate military production with Russia in Belarus.

Belarus is sandwiched between Russia, Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The authoritarian regime is a major ally for Moscow.

Many of the tanks that rolled into Ukraine on the first day of the Russian invasion in February 2022 were first staged on Belarusian soil, giving Russia a shorter and more direct route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

The sanctions target entities involved in the production and repair of military equipment used as part of the invasion.

The measures were imposed in co-ordination with the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“We affirm that the sanctions we have recently announced represent a coordinated, multilateral effort to advance accountability for the Lukashenko regime,” the countries said in a joint statement Friday.

“We will continue to consider our options, including additional sanctions, to hold accountable those who enable the Lukashenko regime’s suppression of democracy in Belarus.”

The countries promised to continue to try to expose and cut off sources of crucial support for the Russian war in Ukraine from Belarus.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2024.