The USA has prolonged the sanctions imposed on 9 Belarusian enterprises (Belneftekhm, Belneftekhim USA, Inc., Belarusian Oil Trade House, Grodno Khimvolokno OAO, Naftan OAO, Polotsk Steklovolokno OAO, Lakokraska OAO, Grodno Azot OAO and Belshina OAO). The decision has been made by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It will come into force on October 25, 2019.
The USA imposed sanctions on the mentioned Belarusian enterprises after the presidential election-2006. The election was announced to be undemocratic. It was a reaction to the dispersal of the Square in Minsk and to the mass detentions of the protest action participants. The United States abolished some of the sanctions after a group of Belarusian political prisoners had been released in the autumn of 2015. The USA keeps abolishing some of the sanctions regularly. It was done in April 2018 the previous time.