On August 9, 2021, U.S. President Joseph Biden issued an Executive Order entitled “Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Belarus.” In a press release, the U.S. government explained that this Executive Order imposes “further consequences upon Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his regime for their ongoing assault against the democratic aspirations and human rights of the Belarusian people, transnational repression and abuse, affronts to international norms, and corruption.”
This Executive Order expands existing sanctions against Belarus “by authorizing the imposition of blocking sanctions on persons operating in certain identified sectors of the Belarus economy, including the defense and related materiel sector, security sector, energy sector, potassium chloride (potash) sector, tobacco products sector, construction sector, transportation sector, or any other sector of the Belarus economy as may be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State.”
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of Treasury added 23 individuals and 21 entities to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List.
OFAC has also issued General License No. 4, “Authorizing the Wind Down of Transactions Involving Belaruskali OAO” and has published three new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
The Executive Order can be found here:
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/126/20210809_belarus_eo.pdf
The White House press release can be found here:
OFAC’s notification, including the complete list of additions, General License No. 4, and the FAQs, can be found here:
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20210809
