By Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday eased some sanctions on Belarus, lifting measures against the national airline and allowing transactions related to President Alexander Lukashenko’s presidential aircraft.
The move is the latest in a thaw in relations between the United States and Belarus after years of U.S. efforts to isolate Minsk, which included imposing sanctions on Lukashenko himself.
Belarus, in September, freed 52 prisoners after an appeal from U.S. President Donald Trump. It received a promise of sanctions relief for Belarus’ national airline, Belavia, allowing it to service and buy components for its aircraft.
SANCTIONS RELIEF INCLUDES NATIONAL AIRLINE
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Tuesday formally lifted sanctions on Belavia and a jet operated by the airline that the department previously said was used by high-ranking officials and Lukashenko’s family members.
It also issued a general license allowing certain transactions related to the use of three previously sanctioned aircraft by Lukashenko or Slavkali, a company linked to his authoritarian government.
The aircraft covered in the license are a Boeing 737 owned by the government of Belarus that was used as the presidential aircraft and another plane that was part of the fleet of presidential aircraft, according to previous Treasury statements.
The third was a luxury helicopter owned by Slavkali that had been used to ferry Lukashenko between his suburban residence and Minsk, according to a previous Treasury statement.
A raft of U.S. sanctions on Belarus, imposed over Belarus’ 2020 presidential election that Washington said was fraudulent, Minsk’s support for Russia and other issues, remain in place, including on Lukashenko and his family.
The Treasury and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
TRUMP ENGAGES WITH MINSK
Trump, since returning to power this year, has increased U.S. engagement with Belarus, sending multiple delegations to Minsk.
Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had imposed sanctions over Lukashenko’s suppression of his country’s opposition and sought to further isolate the eastern European nation after it served as a staging ground for Russia’s 2022 expanded invasion of Ukraine.
Trump has tried to broker a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv, but has admitted that trying to end the more-than-three-year war has proven harder than he had anticipated. Last month, he imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies.
Reuters reported last month that following the partial thaw with Washington, a senior Belarusian diplomat held meetings with Europeans in what European diplomats called an overture aimed at reducing Minsk’s isolation.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Bhargav Acharya, Rod Nickel)
