UK, US and Canada impose additional sanctions on Belarus

On 9 August 2021, the UK, US and Canadian governments announced the imposition of additional sanctions on Belarus. These new measures follow the coordinated imposition of sanctions against Belarus by the EU, UK, Canada and the US in June 2021.

The new US measures involve, among other restrictions:

• new US secondary sanctions applicable to companies “operating in” certain sectors of the Belarusian economy (including energy, defense, transportation, potash, tobacco, and construction);
• the imposition of blocking sanctions on individuals and entities associated with the government of Belarus; and
• the designation of 23 individuals and 21 entities.

The new UK measures comprise:

• the addition of one individual to the existing asset freeze list;
• the imposition of additional financial sector sanctions on certain Belarusian entities (similar to those currently imposed on Russian entities in response to the situation in Ukraine);
• a prohibition on the provision of insurance and reinsurance services; and
• trade sanctions impacting certain specific types of goods and services, including the provision of aviation-related technical assistance.

The new measures were alluded to in the press release announcing the previous round of Belarus sanctions in June and mean that the UK's Belarus sanctions regime is now more closely aligned with the sanctions imposed by the EU at that time.

This briefing, accessible via the link below, sets out more detail on the new restrictions.

UK, US and Canada impose additional sanctions on Belarus

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