H. R. 133—1923 
‘‘(27) On August 28, 2020, United States Deputy Secretary 
of State Stephen Biegun declared that the August 9th election 
in Belarus was fraudulent. 
‘‘(28) Following Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s September 23, 
2020, secret inauguration, the United States, the European 
Union, numerous European Union member states, the United 
Kingdom, and Canada announced that they did not recognize 
Mr. Lukashenka as the legitimately elected leader of Belarus. 
‘‘(29) Since the sham election on August 9, 2020, tens 
of thousands of Belarusian citizens have participated in daily 
peaceful protests calling for a new, free, and fair election, 
and the release of political prisoners. 
‘‘(30) According to Amnesty International, on August 30, 
2020, Belarusians held one of the largest protest rallies in 
the country’s modern history in Minsk and in other cities, 
which was attended by at least 100,000 people who demanded 
the resignation of President Lukashenka and an investigation 
into the human rights violations in Belarus. 
‘‘(31) Women have served as the leading force in demonstra-
tions across the country, protesting the police brutality and 
mass detentions by wearing white, carrying flowers, forming 
‘solidarity chains’, and unmasking undercover police trying to 
arrest demonstrators. 
‘‘(32) The Government of Belarus has responded to the 
peaceful opposition protests, which are the largest in Belarus 
history, with a violent crackdown, including, according to the 
United Nations Special Rapporteur, the detention by govern-
ment authorities of more than 10,000 peaceful protestors as 
of September 18, 2020, mostly for taking part in or observing 
peaceful protests, with many of these arrests followed by 
beatings and torture at the hands of Belarusian law enforce-
ment. 
‘‘(33) According to the Viasna Human Rights Centre, at 
least 450 detainees have reported being tortured or otherwise 
ill-treated while held in incommunicado detention for up to 
10 days, including through— 
‘‘(A) severe beatings; 
‘‘(B) forced performance of humiliating acts; and 
‘‘(C) sexual violence and other forms of violence. 
‘‘(34) At least 4 Belarusians have been killed at protests, 
and dozens of Belarusians who were detained during the pro-
tests are still missing. 
‘‘(35) The Belarus Ministry of Defense threatened to send 
the army to confront protestors, warning that in case of any 
violation of peace and order in areas around national monu-
ments, ‘you will have the army to deal with now, not the 
police’. 
‘‘(36) The Government of Belarus, led illegally by 
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has consistently restricted the free 
flow of information to silence the opposition and to conceal 
the regime’s violent crackdown on peaceful protestors, including 
by— 
‘‘(A) stripping the accreditation of journalists from 
major foreign news outlets; 
‘‘(B) detaining and harassing countless journalists. 
‘‘(C) arresting dozens of journalists, 6 of whom report 
for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;
H. R. 133—1924 
‘‘(D) halting the publishing of 2 independent news-
papers; and 
‘‘(E) disrupting internet access; 
‘‘(F) blocking more than 50 news websites that were 
covering the protests; and 
‘‘(G) limiting access to social media and other digital 
communication platforms. 
‘‘(37) Internet access in Belarus has been repeatedly dis-
rupted and restricted since August 9, 2020, which independent 
experts and monitoring groups have attributed to government 
interference. 
‘‘(38) Thousands of employees at Belarusian state-owned 
enterprises, who have been seen as Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s 
traditional base during his 26-year rule, went on strike across 
the country to protest Lukashenka’s illegitimate election and 
the subsequent crackdowns, including at some of Belarus’s 
largest factories such as the BelAZ truck plant, the Minsk 
Tractor Works, and the Minsk Automobile Plant. 
‘‘(39) After the employees of state media outlets walked 
off the job in protest rather than help report misleading govern-
ment propaganda, Lukashenka confirmed that he ‘asked the 
Russians’ to send teams of Russian journalists to replace local 
employees. 
‘‘(40) On August 19, 2020, European Council President 
Charles Michel announced that the European Union would 
impose sanctions on a substantial number of individuals respon-
sible for violence, repression, and election fraud in Belarus. 
‘‘(41) On October 2, 2020, the Department of Treasury 
announced new sanctions under Executive Order 13405 on 
eight individuals ‘for their roles in the fraudulent August 9, 
2020 Belarus presidential election or the subsequent violent 
crackdown on peaceful protesters’. 
‘‘(42) Similar sanctions have also been applied to Belarusian 
human rights violators by the Government of Canada and 
the Government of the United Kingdom. 
‘‘(43) Against the will of the majority of the Belarusian 
people— 
‘‘(A) Alyaksandr Lukashenka appealed to Russian 
President Vladimir Putin to provide security assistance 
to his government, if requested; and 
‘‘(B) President Putin has agreed to prop up the 
Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime by— 
‘‘(i) confirming that a Russian police force was 
ready to be deployed if ‘the situation gets out of control’; 
‘‘(ii) providing significant financial support; and 
‘‘(iii) sending Russian propagandists to help 
disseminate pro-regime propaganda on Belarus state 
television. 
‘‘(44) The Governments of the United States, the European 
Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada have— 
‘‘(A) condemned the violent crackdown on peaceful 
protestors; 
‘‘(B) refused to accept the results of the fraudulent 
election; and 
‘‘(C) called for new free and fair elections under inde-
pendent observation.’’.
H. R. 133—1925 
SEC. 323. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
Section 3 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 
109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
‘‘It is the policy of the United States— 
‘‘(1) to condemn— 
‘‘(A) the conduct of the August 9, 2020, presidential 
election in Belarus, which was neither free nor fair; 
‘‘(B) the Belarusian authorities’ unrelenting crackdown 
on, arbitrary arrests of, and violence against opposition 
candidates, peaceful protestors, human rights activists, 
employees from state-owned enterprises participating in 
strikes, independent election observers, and independent 
journalists and bloggers; and 
‘‘(C) the unjustified detention and forced or attempted 
expulsion of members of the Coordination Council in 
Belarus; 
‘‘(2) to continue demanding the immediate release without 
preconditions of all political prisoners in Belarus and those 
arrested for peacefully protesting, including all those individ-
uals detained in connection with the August 9, 2020, presi-
dential election; 
‘‘(3) to stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus, 
including human rights defenders, bloggers, and journalists, 
who are exercising their right to freedom of assembly, freedom 
of expression, and rule of law and to continue supporting the 
aspirations of the people of Belarus for democracy, human 
rights, and the rule of law; 
‘‘(4) to continue actively supporting the aspirations of the 
people of the Republic of Belarus— 
‘‘(A) to preserve the independence and sovereignty of 
their country; and 
‘‘(B) to freely exercise their religion, including the head 
of the Catholic Church in Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz 
Kondrusiewicz, who was barred from entering the country 
after criticizing Belarusian authorities; 
‘‘(5) to recognize the leading role of women in the peaceful 
protests and pro-democracy movement in Belarus; 
‘‘(6) to continue— 
‘‘(A) rejecting the invalid results of the fraudulent 
August 9, 2020 presidential election in Belarus announced 
by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of 
Belarus; and 
‘‘(B) supporting calls for new presidential and par-
liamentary elections, conducted in a manner that is free 
and fair according to OSCE standards and under the super-
vision of OSCE observers and independent domestic 
observers; 
‘‘(7) to refuse to recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka as the 
legitimately elected leader of Belarus; 
‘‘(8) to not recognize any incorporation of Belarus into a 
‘Union State’ with Russia, since this so-called ‘Union State’ 
would be both an attempt to absorb Belarus and a step to 
reconstituting the totalitarian Soviet Union; 
‘‘(9) to continue calling for the fulfillment by the Govern-
ment of Belarus of Belarus’s freely undertaken obligations as
H. R. 133—1926 
an OSCE participating state and as a signatory of the Charter 
of the United Nations; 
‘‘(10) to support an OSCE role in mediating a dialogue 
within Belarus between the government and genuine represent-
atives of Belarusian society; 
‘‘(11) to recognize the Coordination Council as a legitimate 
institution to participate in a dialogue on a peaceful transition 
of power; 
‘‘(12) to applaud the commitment by foreign diplomats in 
Minsk to engage with Coordination Council member and Nobel 
Laureate, Svetlana Alexievich, and to encourage an ongoing 
dialogue with her and with other leaders of the democratically- 
oriented political opposition in Belarus; 
‘‘(13) to urge an expanded United States diplomatic pres-
ence in Belarus to advocate for the aspirations of the people 
of Belarus for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law; 
‘‘(14) to encourage the United States Government— 
‘‘(A) to continue working closely with the European 
Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries 
and international organizations to promote the principles 
of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights in Belarus; 
and 
‘‘(B) to impose targeted sanctions, in coordination with 
the European Union and other international partners, 
against officials in Belarus who are responsible for— 
‘‘(i) undermining democratic processes in Belarus; 
or 
‘‘(ii) participating in human rights abuses related 
to political repression in Belarus; 
‘‘(15) to call on the Government of Belarus to uphold its 
human rights obligations, including those rights enumerated 
in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 
and 
‘‘(16) to support— 
‘‘(A) the continued territorial integrity of Belarus; and 
‘‘(B) the right of the Belarusian people to determine 
their future.’’. 
SEC. 324. ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY, CIVIL SOCIETY, AND 
SOVEREIGNTY IN BELARUS. 
Section 4 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 
109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended— 
(1) by amending the section heading to read as follows: 
‘‘assistance to promote democracy, civil society, and sovereignty in belarus.’’; 
(2) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘European’’ and 
inserting ‘‘Trans-Atlantic’’; and 
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as para-
graphs (3) and (4), respectively; and 
(C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following: 
‘‘(2) To assist the people of Belarus in building the sov-
ereignty and independence of their country.’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘and Belarusian groups outside of 
Belarus’’ after ‘‘indigenous Belarusian groups’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘and Belarusian sovereignty’’ before 
the period at the end;