Bill introduced to enforce Belarus sanctions; specifically targets Belaruskali potash

摘要

A bipartisan group of eight U.S. Representatives on July 16 introduced legislation in the U.S. House that moves to reinforce U.S. sanctions against Belarus. The legislation would designate Belaruskali, the Belarus state-owned potash company, and its trading company, Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC), as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN), making them subject to U.S. sanctions. U.S. sanctions were first imposed against Belarus in 2006, and the State Concern for Oil and Chemistry (Belneftekhim), a large, state-owned petrochemical conglomerate, was named as an SDN in 2007. U.S. businesses, citizens, and green card holders are prohibited from doing business with sanctioned entities, and until 2014, Belaruskali was part of the Belneftekhim Concern and had ceased exports of potash under the sanctions.