Ukraine proposes sanctions against top Belarus security officials, Lukashenko's son

According to the detailed wording of the resolution published on Friday, Ukraine's government has recommended personal sanctions against 52 Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko's son Viktor. Belarus is in the midst of a political crisis following a vote-rigging scandal that sparked enormous rallies against President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in office since 1994.

Ukraine agrees to recommend penalties on Belarusian authorities

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian government agreed to recommend penalties on Belarusian authorities involved in “falsifying” the results of the 2020 presidential election and human rights breaches, but it did not name anyone or provide any details. Personal economic penalties against Minsk officials would be enforced for three years, according to Friday's document, and will include a ban on trips and transit via Ukraine, as well as an asset freeze.

Almost all current and former interior ministry leaders, the state security committee (KGB), presidential advisers and aides, and chiefs of the prosecutor general's office and the central election commission are among the targeted. The government decided on sanctions and presented them to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's security and defence council. It will be enacted by presidential decree if the council accepts it.

Last year, Ukraine cut ties with Belarus and joined the European Union in denouncing the elections as unfree and unfair. Lukashenko denies that there was any electoral fraud.

The West has condemned Lukashenko, the long-serving authoritarian leader who ignited the protests by claiming a sixth presidential term, stating that the August 9 election was not free or fair. Leaders in the West have recently targeted crucial areas of Belarus's faltering economy to punish Lukashenko's regime for intercepting a Ryanair jet in May and detaining an opposition activist and his girlfriend on board. Western countries have also imposed a litany of sanctions on Lukashenko and his dictatorship, but they appear to have had little impact because he retains the support of Russia, a vital ally and creditor.

Who is Alexander Lukashenko

From 1975 to 1977, Alexander Lukashenko served in the Border Guard, where he was an instructor of the political department of military unit No. 2187 of the Western Frontier District in Brest, and from 1980 to 1982, he served in the Soviet Army. He was the leader of an All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (Komsomol) chapter in Mogilev from 1977 to 1978. and served in the Soviet Army as a deputy political officer with the 120th Guards Motor Rifle Division, based in Minsk before becoming the President of Belarus.