III 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 345 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the political situation in Belarus. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 9, 2021 

Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

PORTMAN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. 

RUBIO, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. KAINE, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on the political situation 

in Belarus. 

Whereas the United States Senate has long maintained 

strong bipartisan concern regarding the troubling lack of 

democracy in Belarus, highlighted by the passing of the 

Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 

22 U.S.C. 5811 note); 

Whereas the 116th Congress, as referenced in H.R. 8438, the 

Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act 

of 2020, and Senate Resolution 658, which both passed 

with unanimous support, stated its deep concern regarding the fraudulent election in Belarus on August 9, 2020; 


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Whereas, on September 17, 2020, the Moscow Mechanism of 

the human dimension of the Organization for Security 

and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was invoked by 17 

participating states with regard to credible reports of 

human rights violations before, during, and after the 

presidential election of August 9, 2020, in Belarus; 

Whereas, following Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s inauguration on 

September 23, 2020, the United States, the European 

Union, numerous European Union member states, the 

United Kingdom, and Canada announced they did not 

recognize the legitimacy of the election results; 

Whereas, after the August 9, 2020 presidential election, the 

Government of Belarus responded to the resulting peaceful protests, the largest in the country’s history, with a 

violent crackdown, including the detention of more than 

10,000 peaceful protectors, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human 

rights in Belarus; 

Whereas the Government of Belarus, under the misrule of the 

Lukashenka regime, continues to engage in a pattern of 

clear and persistent violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and disrespects the basic principles of 

democratic governance by subjecting tens of thousands of 

pro-democracy political activists, peaceful protesters, and 

ordinary citizens to harassment, beatings, abductions, 

forced deportations, and imprisonment and by committing acts of transnational repression to punish any dissent expressed by Belarusian citizens; 

Whereas the Lukashenka regime continues to silence independent media, such as Nasha Niva, tut.by, and Belsat, 

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cluding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and arrested 

journalists; 

Whereas, on September 11, 2020, then-Deputy Secretary of 

State Stephen Biegun said that ‘‘we stand by our longterm commitment to support the sovereignty of Belarus 

as well as its territorial integrity, as the aspirations of 

the Belarusian people to determine their own path remains in front of us’’; 

Whereas, on May 23, 2021, the Lukashenka regime forced a 

commercial airliner flying between two European Union 

member states to land in Minsk in order for the regime 

to arrest journalist Raman Pratasevich and his partner 

Sofia Sapega, an action that resulted in near universal 

condemnation from the international community and coordinated sanctions by the United States, the United 

Kingdom, and the European Union; 

Whereas, on May 28, 2021, the White House announced the 

re-imposition of full blocking sanctions against nine 

Belarusian state-owned enterprises and announced a new 

Executive order to increase sanctions on elements of the 

Lukashenka regime; 

Whereas the Lukashenka regime has actively encouraged over 

4,000 migrants from other countries to cross through 

Belarus into European Union member state Lithuania, 

amounting to people smuggling and obliging Lithuania to 

declare a state of emergency; 

Whereas, on June 9, 2021, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate held a hearing regarding the political 

situation in Belarus, in which United States Ambassador 

to Belarus Julie Fisher testified that ‘‘Despite the oppression, the violence, and the turmoil that followed the 


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events of the past year provide glimmers of hope. A new 

generation of brave Belarusians, with courageous women 

at the front, have emerged. They represent a Belarus determined to chart its own path. They represent a Belarus 

in which wearing a red and white dress, hanging a flag, 

or playing a particular song will not result in torture, 

forced confessions, or even death.’’; 

Whereas, on July 27, 2021, President Biden met Belarusian 

opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya at the White 

House and declared that ‘‘The United States stands with 

the people of Belarus in their quest for democracy and 

universal human rights.’’; 

Whereas, on August 9, 2021, President Biden— 

(1) announced an Executive order authorizing the 

imposition of blocking sanctions on certain sectors of the 

Belarus economy, including the potash, tobacco products, 

and construction sectors; and 

(2) pursuant to such Executive order and Executive 

Order 13405, issued additional sanctions on Belarusian 

individuals and entities, including Belaruskali (a stateowned potash fertilizer company) and the Belarus National Olympic Committee; and 

Whereas Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana 

Tsikhanouskaya continues to represent the widely shared 

desire of the Belarusian people for free and fair elections 

and democracy: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) continues, on the first anniversary of the il3 legitimate presidential election in Belarus on August 

4 9, 2020, to refuse to recognize Alyaksandr 


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1 Lukashenka as the legitimately elected leader of 

2 Belarus; 

3 (2) condemns Lukashenka’s ongoing crackdown 

4 on members of the pro-democracy movement, senior 

5 members of the Coordination Council, peaceful pro6 testers, employees from state-owned enterprises par7 ticipating in strikes, independent election observers, 

8 independent journalists and bloggers, medical profes9 sionals, professors, teachers, athletes, and cultural 

10 leaders; 

11 (3) continues to call for the fulfillment by the 

12 Government of Belarus of Belarus’ freely under13 taken obligations as an Organization for Security 

14 and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) member and 

15 accept the OSCE’s offer to facilitate a national dia16 logue and fully participate in the OSCE process; 

17 (4) calls for new presidential and parliamentary 

18 elections to be held in Belarus, conducted in a man19 ner that is free and fair according to OSCE stand20 ards and under the supervision of OSCE observers 

21 and independent domestic observers; 

22 (5) welcomes the United States Government’s 

23 close coordination with the European Union, the 

24 United Kingdom, Canada, other allied and partner 

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1 mote the principles of democracy, the rule of law, 

2 and human rights in Belarus and encourages contin3 ued coordination to apply maximal pressure on the 

4 Lukashenka regime; 

5 (6) continues to call for the immediate release, 

6 without preconditions, of all political prisoners in 

7 Belarus; 

8 (7) welcomes the recent release of Radio Free 

9 Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalists Aleh 

10 Hruzdzilovich and Ina Studzinskaya and calls for 

11 the unconditional release of all political prisoners 

12 and journalists detained on dubious charges, includ13 ing opposition candidates Sergei Tikhanovsky and 

14 Viktar Babaryka, pro-democracy activist Maria 

15 Kalesnikava, and RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik; 

16 (8) condemns the forced diversion of Ryanair 

17 Flight 4978 to arrest Raman Pratasevich and his 

18 partner Sofia Sapega, which violated international 

19 civil aviation law and risked the lives of innocent 

20 passengers and crew, and calls for their immediate 

21 unconditional release; 

22 (9) commends the bravery of Belarusians who 

23 have created innovative ways to protest 

24 Lukashenka’s autocracy and applauds the 

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1 national focus on the deteriorating political situa2 tion; 

3 (10) lauds the extraordinary support offered by 

4 the Governments of Lithuania, Ukraine, and Poland 

5 to support the people of Belarus, including support 

6 for the political opposition, accommodation of polit7 ical refugees, and backing a free media; 

8 (11) calls on the Lukashenka regime to imme9 diately halt exploiting and instrumentalizing mi10 grants and to stop directing individuals to Lithua11 nia’s borders; 

12 (12) welcomes the Executive order announced 

13 on August 9, 2021, that applies additional sanctions 

14 on the Lukashenka regime and urges the Biden Ad15 ministration to consider all economic, political, and 

16 diplomatic tools at its disposal to support democracy 

17 in Belarus; 

18 (13) welcomes the European Union sanctions 

19 imposed on the Lukashenka regime and urges the 

20 United States to continue to coordinate additional 

21 measures with the European Union; and 

22 (14) emphasizes that the United States sup23 ports the people of Belarus in their quest to main24 tain their sovereignty, choose their own leadership, 

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1 forts of the Belarusian opposition to coordinate ef2 forts with the United States, the European Union, 

3 the OSCE, and the United Nations to bring free and 

4 fair elections to its people. 

Æ 


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