Belarus Headlines

Bush Extends U.S. Property Blocking Order against Belarus' President & Other Officials: President George W. Bush extended a national emergency declaration Thursday involving Belarus that enables the U.S. government to freeze any property in the United States owned by Belarus' president and selected other officials. Bush's declaration of last June mentioned the undermining of the former Soviet republic's "democratic processes or institutions" and "human rights abuses related to political repression, including detentions and disappearances. Specifically, the declaration criticized March 2006 elections won by President Alexander Lukashenko, which the United States and others decried as fraudulent. Lukashenko had organized a referendum in 2004 to allow him to run for a constitutionally forbidden third term. Lukashenko and his chief deputy, his justice and internal affairs ministers and other senior officials are named in the blocking order. It means they lose access to any property they own within the United States or in the possession of U.S. citizens or companies outside the United States.