Various Belarusian officials, businesspeople with links to the authoritarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko and their companies have been subject to various sanctions involving asset freeze and travel bans.
[11][12] The list included President Lukashenko and all Central Election Committee members as well as other senior state official and security forces commanders.
[21] These countries have sanctioned various numbers of Belarusian officials "for their roles in the fraudulent August 9, 2020 Belarus presidential election or the subsequent violent crackdown on peaceful protesters"[16] or under similar motivations.
More sanctions against Belarusian individuals and entities followed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine; some of them were introduced due to Belarus's role in it.
[92] It was suggested that companies related to Lukashenko's deputy businessperson Mikalai Varabei were used to bypass the sanctions in the petroleum sector of industry.
[92] Polisch political scientist Piotr Żochowski suggested that the authorities will redirect their exports "through a chain of intermediaries in other countries", thus partially circumventing the sanctions.