The United States today introduced new restrictive measures for several high-ranking Belarusian officials and hundreds of other officials on the second anniversary of the beginning of the mass protests in Belarus.

The sanctions are due to "engagement in widespread violations of human rights, selective detention of peaceful protesters...undermining democratic institutions and the inevitable transition to democracy", according to today's announcement by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

The sanctions are being introduced on the date when exactly two years ago there were elections in Belarus which the international community confirmed by consensus to have been falsified, and in which the decade-long dictator Alexander Lukashenko declared victory. This caused massive protests across the country.

- The Belarusian people demonstrated exceptional resistance to maintain the pro-democracy movement for two years, and at the cost of great personal sacrifices, the announcement states.

It is reported that the Belarusian diaspora abroad is calling for democracy, that over 1,200 political prisoners are unjustly behind bars in the country, and that countless ordinary citizens of Belarus are in prison.

- Peaceful calls for democracy were met with unprecedented brutal force and consolidated repression by the Lukashenko regime.

Some of the most prominent sanctioned officials are Nikolay Karpiankov, deputy minister of internal affairs and commander of the internal army, and Dimitrij Balaba, commander of the OMON special forces.

– The United States supports the people of Belarus in their aspirations for a democratic, sovereign and prosperous future. We will demand responsibility for the human rights violations by the Lukashenko regime, and we will support efforts to document the violations and bring the guilty to justice, said Blinken.