Belarus Informs UN About U.S. Sanctions Against Belneftekhim
Prime-Tass
Belarus has sent an official note to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon about the additional restrictive measures imposed by the U.S. on Belarus’ state-run oil and chemistry concern Belneftekhim, the UN News Service said in a statement.
Belarus’ mission to the UN requested Secretary General to publish the relevant statement by Belarus’ Foreign Ministry dated March 7, 2008 as an official document of the UN General Assembly.
“During a rather long period of time, Belarus took quite a number of consistent and constructive steps for the purpose of normalizing relations with Western countries,” the Belarusian foreign ministry said in the statement. The statement reads: “the U.S., having ignored the prior agreements, breached an agreed scheme of actions to normalize relations and introduced additional economic restrictions targeting enterprises of the Belneftekhim concern.”
“The U.S. actions also arouse rightful indignation since they have been carried out notwithstanding the UN General Assembly resolution 62/183, which sets forth that “that no State might use or encourage the use of unilateral economic, political or any other type of measure to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights”.
“The Belarusian side declares that Belarus will reciprocate by stepping up tough measures. The American side was previously advised of the nature of those measures. One of those measures will be the recalling of the Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the U.S., Mikhail Khvostov, to Minsk for consultations. At the same time, the Government of the Republic of Belarus insistently suggests that the Ambassador of the United States in Minsk, Karen Stewart, should leave our country.”
The Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of Belarus, Karen Stewart, departed the Embassy Wednesday, March 12, en route to Washington.
The Bush administration on November 13, 2007 imposed financial sanctions on Belneftekhim.
U.S. Treasury sanctions against Belneftekhim prohibit Americans from doing business with the refining and petrochemical firm and freeze any assets it has under U.S. jurisdiction in Germany, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia and China.