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April 15 (UPI) -- The United States and Canada each separately unsheathed nearly two dozen Belarus-related sanctions on Monday, as the North American allies target the European nation over its support of Russia in its war against Ukraine and Minsk's crackdown on opposition to its 2020 presidential election. The Biden administration said it hit a total 12 entities and 10 people with sanctions, while Ottawa said it was targeting 21 people with punitive measures.
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"We will continue to work with our partners and allies to expose sanctions evasion, halt illicit arms trafficking worldwide, and impose costs on those who support Russia's brutal war against Ukraine and profiteering from it," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
Belarus has been a target of Western sanctions for years, in particular over its brutal response to protests that followed the widely discredited 2020 election, in which its dictatorial president, Alexander Lukashenko, won a sixth consecutive term in office.
Sanctions on Minsk then increased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, as Belarus has provided the Kremlin with support, even allowing the stationing of Russian troops in the country.
The treasury said Monday of those it sanctioned, seven companies and five people were involved in generating revenue for Belarus, including by facilitating transactions for U.S.-designated Belarusian SOE Peleng JSC, a domestic defense corporation.
The other five companies and five people blacklisted were accused of being involved with a global arms network doing business with a U.S.-designated Belarusian defense firm, it said.
The federal department added that the Justice Department also acted to charge Lebanon-based Samer Rayya and Syrian Mohamad Majd Deiry, two individuals newly blacklisted Monday.
The Treasury said the pair led Black Shield Company for General Trading LLC, an Iraq-based arms company sanctioned Monday, from which they sold weapons used in international conflicts.
Officials said that among Black Shield's clients was Kidma Tech OJSC, a key Belarusian defense company sanctioned by the United States in December 2021.
"Rayya and Deiry, through Black Shield, have brokered weapons deals and offered air transport services in the Middle East and Africa for individuals, non-state actors and government customers, including from Russian arms companies," the Treasury said. "Black Shield and Deiry maintained relationships with individuals allegedly linked to the Syrian government and engaged in business activity on behalf of the Iranian regime."
Across the border in Canada, Ottawa officials said they sanctioned individuals Monday for their involvement in human rights abuses committed by Belarus during its crackdown on those protesting the 2020 election.
Former senior government officials, public prosecutors, members of the judiciary system and administrators of penal and so-called education colonies were among those designated by Canada for suppressing the right of Belarusians to protest.
"These individuals have been involved or complicit in arbitrary arrests and detentions, brutality, intimidation and excessive use of force against Belarusians who protested the fraudulent elections, as well as their ill treatment once they were falsely tried, sentenced and imprisoned," Global Affairs Canada said in a statement.
The designations were announced on the sidelines of a visit to Ottawa by exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who said in a statement that she welcomed both moves by the United States and Canada.
"The regime must be held accountable for its crimes against Belarusians & support for Russia's war against [Ukraine]," she said on social media.
