US sanctions on Belarusian regime remain in force

Only two enterprises have sanctions against them suspended until May 31, 2011.

These enterprises are Polotsk Steklovolokno and Lakokraska. The rest US sanctions remain in force, BelaPAN reports.

The American authorities do not plan to change the country’s police towards Belarus, Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Russell said journalist earlier in Minsk.

According to Russell, the goal of the United States was to improve bilateral relations with the Republic of Belarus. As the White House thinks, Belarus should bring the country to order and improve the situation with human right and democracy to reach a new stage of the relations with the US.

As Russell noted, normalization of the bilateral relations between the two countries was limited. The US won’t lift or limit the financial sanctions and travel restrictions on Belarus. As the US Assistant Secretary thinks, there was no progress on the democracy and human rights issues. Alyaksandr Lukashenka and some high-ranking officials are personae non gratae in the US.

If the Belarusian authorities want the sanctions to be cancelled, they should take positive steps to meet the wishes of the United States, Daniel Russell concluded.