МотолькоПомоги

Дэвид Кремер (часть из выступления, обратите внимание на компании и фамилии):

"This should include the so-called moneybags, individuals connected to Lukashenka who prop him up financially. These include Russian figures who have been instrumental in Lukashenka’s staying power, as well as Belarusians. Cut off the flows from them and you water down the thin ice on which Lukashenka stands.

Sanctions should be targeted against Mikhail Gutseriyev, a Russian-British oligarch who is very close to Lukashenko. Gutseriyev helped Lukashenka replace TV presenters who quit in protest over the crackdown and replaced them with RT fill-ins. His son bought the fifth largest bank in Belarus, and his oil company Safmar was the only supplier that continued to ship oil to Belarus after Putin cut shipments in January 2020.

Also on the list should be German Gref and Sberbank. Sberbank has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Belarusian real estate and has its own Belarusian subsidiary. Gref has expressed his full support for Lukashenka during numerous visits to Minsk. Three other Russian state banks – VTB, VEB, and Gazprombank – play key roles in the Belarusian banking system and should be sanctioned.
Gazprom, Slavneft, Rosneft and Uralkali should be added, too. All have their eyes set on taking over respective assets in Belarus. Uralkali has long desired to acquire Belaruskali, the world’s biggest potash producer, and U.S. sanctions on both would make such a takeover less likely.

Russian propagandists – including employees of RT – should be added to the list. They were brought to Minsk to fill in for Belarusian presenters who resigned over the crackdown, with Gutseriyev’s help, as noted above. They are not journalists – they are dangerous propagandists and should be targeted. RT as a whole should also be sanctioned; it is not a journalistic outlet but a propaganda arm of the Kremlin.

Targets should include those in the Middle East as well. The UAE in particular is a country where Lukashenka has established close business connections. The Emirates and others in the region need to choose: support Lukashenka or stay in the good graces of the United States.

Then there are those in Belarus who have enabled the Lukashenka regime. It is vital that there be accountability for those involved or complicit in the repression. Friends from Belarus have provided lists of government officials, judges and prosecutors, propagandists, members of polling station commissions, security apparatus officers, businessmen supporting the regime, educational institutions' officials, and state enterprises' directors. They are important to sanction both for purposes of justice but also to send a signal to others who might contemplate supporting the regime.

We also must block the sale of arms and other products from Belarus to other countries. We should move forward with sectoral sanctions and those on state-owned enterprises (which means they are controlled by Lukashenka). Lukashenka has concentrated the economy into his hands; some 70 percent of it is owned by the state, which means by Lukashenka and his circle.

There are no pain-free ways to go about tightening the screws. Indeed, it is naïve to think that sanctions will not have spillover effects, but these measures must be accompanied by clear messaging that while this will cause some hardship on the people of the country, the people of the country are not our targets. Lukashenka and his accomplices are. They include Victor Sheiman, Alexey Oleksin, Nikolay Vorobey, Aliaksandr Zaitsau, Aliaksandr Mashenski, Vladimir Peftiev, among others.

We also need to ensure that no American citizens or companies are doing business with Lukashenka and thus helping to prop him up."

@motolkohelp

87.1K viewsedited 20:11