Section 1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2025.

Sec. 2. Findings

Section 2 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows:

2. Findings

Congress finds the following:

(1)

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, done in New York December 19, 1966, was ratified by Belarus in 1973, guaranteeing Belarusians the freedom of expression and the freedom of association.

(2)

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has ruled Belarus as an undemocratic dictatorship since the first presidential election in Belarus in 1994, and subsequent presidential elections have been neither free nor fair, failing to meet minimal international electoral standards.

(3)

In response to the repression and violence during the 2006 presidential election, Congress passed the Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2006 (Public Law 109–480).

(4)

In 2006, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13405, titled Blocking Property of Certain Persons Undermining Democratic Processes or Institutions in Belarus, which authorized the imposition of sanctions against persons responsible for—

(A)

undermining democratic processes in Belarus; or

(B)

participating in human rights abuses related to political repression in Belarus.

(5)

In March 2011, the Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 105, which—

(A)

condemned the December 2010 election in Belarus as ‘illegitimate, fraudulent, and not representative of the will or the aspirations of the voters in Belarus'; and

(B)

called on the Lukashenka regime ‘to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners in Belarus who were arrested in association with the December 19, 2010, election'.

(6)

The Government of Belarus continues to engage in a pattern of clear and persistent gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and basic principles of democratic governance.

(7)

The Government of Belarus continues to subject thousands of pro-democracy political activists and peaceful protesters to harassment, beatings, and imprisonment, particularly as a result of their attempts to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of assembly and association.

(8)

The Government of Belarus continues to suppress independent media and journalists and to restrict access to the internet, including social media and other digital communication platforms, in violation of the right to freedom of speech and expression of those dissenting from the dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

(9)

The Government of Belarus continues a systematic campaign of harassment, repression, and closure of nongovernmental organizations, including independent trade unions and entrepreneurs, creating a climate of fear that inhibits the development of civil society and social solidarity.

(10)

The Government of Belarus has pursued a policy undermining the country’s sovereignty and independence by making Belarus’ political, economic, cultural, and societal interests subservient to those of Russia.

(11)

The Government of Belarus continues to reduce the independence of Belarus through integration into a so-called Union State that is under the control of Russia.

(12)

In advance of the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, authorities acting on behalf of President Lukashenka arrested journalists, bloggers, political activists, and the leading political opposition candidates, leading to demonstrations in support of democracy.

(13)

On August 9, 2020, the Government of Belarus conducted a presidential election that was held under undemocratic conditions, did not meet international standards, involved government malfeasance and serious irregularities with ballot counting and the reporting of election results, and included restrictive measures that impeded the work of local independent observers and did not provide sufficient notice to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to allow for the OSCE to monitor the elections, as is customary.

(14)

Illegitimate president Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared a landslide victory in the election and claimed to have received more than 80 percent of the votes cast in the election.

(15)

The leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, formally disputed the reported results and was detained by government authorities before being forced into exile in Lithuania.

(16)

Later in August, 2020, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Stephen Biegun, and European Union High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, issued statements declaring the Belarus elections to be fraudulent and neither free nor fair.

(17)

Following the illegitimate election results, tens of thousands of Belarusian protestors took to the streets, led predominately by women, resulting in the largest protest rallies in Belarus’ modern history, with over 1,400 reported as injured by Belarusian police in August and September 2020, over 37,000 detained by May 2021, and several killed for protesting the fraudulent election.

(18)

The Government of Belarus has consistently restricted the free flow of information to silence the opposition and to conceal the regime’s violent crackdown on peaceful protestors, including through the suppression of independent media and journalists, and disruption of free internet access.

(19)

After the employees of state media outlets walked off the job in protest rather than help report misleading government propaganda, Lukashenka confirmed that he asked the Russians to send teams of Russian journalists to replace local employees.

(20)

Following Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s September 23, 2020, inauguration, the United States, the European Union, numerous European states, the United Kingdom, and Canada announced that they cannot consider Mr. Lukashenka as the legitimately elected leader of Belarus.

(21)

As a result of the Lukashenka regime’s violence against the Belarusian people and deprivation of their fundamental rights, the United States Congress passed and the President signed into law the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2020 to demand the rights of the Belarusian people be respected and to hold accountable those who undermine them.

(22)

As a result of the Lukashenka regime’s violence against its own people, in December 2020, Members of Congress and transatlantic parliamentarians wrote a letter to the International Ice Hockey Federation President demanding the Championship be relocated from Belarus.

(23)

In response to the Government of Belarus’ repressive actions following the 2020 election, the United States, along with the European Union, imposed various sanctions packages on individuals and entities involved with the suppression of democracy in Belarus, including—

(A)

the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Belarus and officials determined to be responsible for undermining democracy in Belarus;

(B)

entities and persons determined to be involved in the violent suppression of protestors, such as the Minsk Special Purpose Police Unit, the Main Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee, and KGB Alpha; and

(C)

state-owned enterprises that provide revenue to support Lukashenka’s authoritarian regime.

(24)

In April 2021, the House of Representatives passed House Resolution 124 reaffirming that the August 2020 elections were neither free nor fair and that the House of Representatives does not recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka as Belarus’ legitimate president.

(25)

On May 23, 2021, the Government of Belarus forced Ryanair Flight 4978 to land in Belarus as it neared the border of Lithuania after calling in a false bomb report and subsequently arrested independent Belarusian opposition blogger and political activist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend, threatening the safety of every passenger aboard the civilian flight, and ultimately detaining Pratasevich as a political prisoner.

(26)

In May 2021, the European Union pledged a comprehensive plan of economic support worth up to 3 billion euros to assist in the development of a future, democratic Belarus following a democratic transition.

(27)

As of April 2024, the Government of Belarus, led illegally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, unlawfully holds nearly 1,300 people as political prisoners, including dozens of journalists, peaceful protestors, business leaders, and democracy activists, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists Ilhar Losik and Ihar Karney, Andrzej Poczubut, a Polish-Belarusian journalist, and Artsiom Liabedzka, the son of Anatol Liabedzka, an exiled leader of the democratic opposition.

(28)

The Government of Belarus, led illegally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has consistently weaponized migrants and asylum seekers by transporting them to Belarus’ borders with the NATO and European Union countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland in an attempt to destabilize each country by creating diplomatic border crises, and in violation of the migrant and asylum seekers’ human rights.

(29)

The Government of Belarus has been complicit in Russia’s illegal and full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

(30)

In advance of Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, Alyaksandr Lukashenka opened Belarus’ borders to the Russian military, serving as a staging area, providing bases for training and for launching air strikes and invasion forces, and providing logistical support to the Russian invasion force which attacked Ukraine in February 2022.

(31)

In February 2022, just days after Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Alyaksandr Lukashenka held a constitutional referendum described by the Department of State as not free or fair which, among other provisions, would endow Lukashenka with lifetime immunity from prosecution for his crimes, allow Russian nuclear weapons to be stationed on the territory of Belarus, and formally revoke Belarus’ status as a neutral nation.

(32)

Since the start of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine, the Government of Belarus has consistently worked to further the so-called Union State with the Russian Federation and deepen joint military and economic ties to support Russia’s war effort.

(33)

Throughout Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine, the Government of Belarus has participated in the abduction and illegal deportation of Ukrainian civilians from territory occupied by the Russian Federation, including thousands of children sent to facilities in Belarus for re-education as detailed in a November 2023 report by the Yale University Humanitarian Research Lab’s Conflict Observatory.

(34)

The now-suspended Belarusian branch of the Red Cross has publicly confirmed its involvement in transferring children from Ukraine to the territory of Belarus, and the illegitimate leader of the Government of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has publicly confirmed that he permitted these transfers.

(35)

In Spring 2023, the Government of Belarus announced plans for the deployment of nuclear weapons from the Russian Federation to the territory of Belarus, which reportedly began in the summer of this same year.

(36)

The Government of Belarus has harbored the Wagner Group, a private military company the United States has designated as a Transnational Criminal Organization, and provided facilities, resources, and a staging ground for the group’s criminal operations.

(37)

The Government of Belarus has reportedly provided the Government of the Russian Federation with tens of thousands of tons of ammunition throughout Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine.

(38)

As a result of the Government of Belarus’ support to the Russian Federation during its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have repeatedly issued further sanctions packages against the Lukashenka regime to target Belarusian military officers as well as individuals in the military sector, restrictions on entities in Belarus’ defense and industrial sectors, and entities that provide support to Belarus’ military and industrial sectors.

(39)

The Government of Belarus is reportedly engaging in the purchase of significant amounts of military equipment from the sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran.

(40)

On August 6, 2023, the Belarusian democratic opposition issued a declaration expressing their objective of developing democracy in Belarus and pursuing membership in the European Union and, by extension, joining the Trans-Atlantic community.

(41)

The democratic opposition of Belarus have called on the Government of Belarus, led illegally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, to end its complicity and involvement in the war in Ukraine, and urged against the conscription of men into the Belarusian military.

(42)

On February 28, 2022, the Department of State ordered the departure of United States Government employees and the suspension of operations of the United States Embassy in Minsk.

(43)

On August 21, 2023, the United States Government directed all United States citizens to leave Belarus immediately due to the illegitimate Belarusian authorities’ continued cooperation with the Russian military and facilitation of Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, and the risk of detention and arbitrary enforcement of local laws against United States citizens.

(44)

In September 2023, the Government of Belarus deprived Belarusians living abroad of their ability to renew their passports through Belarusian embassies in an attempt to make life difficult for and to force exiles, critics, and expats to return to Belarus for document renewal and possibly face persecution.

(45)

In December 2023, the United States Government held a Strategic Dialogue with the Belarusian democratic opposition and civil society and subsequently announced a continuation of efforts to hold Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his regime accountable for their crimes, a commitment to supporting Belarusian culture, sovereignty, and national identity, as well as the need for future working groups with the democratic opposition.

(46)

On February 25, 2024, the Government of Belarus administered fraudulent parliamentary elections in an environment marked by censorship, persecution of political opposition, illegal manipulation of the vote, and the lack of any international observers from credible organizations.

(47)

In December 2024 Lukashenka announced that Belarus is hosting dozens of Russian nuclear weapons and will prepare facilities for hosting Russian hypersonic missiles.

(48)

On January 26, 2025, the Government of Belarus administered fraudulent presidential elections in an environment marked by censorship, persecution of political opposition, illegal manipulation of the vote, the lack of any international observers from credible organizations, and declared victory for Lukashenka.

(49)

The Russian Federation has facilitated and the Belarusian government is complicit in the illegal abduction and transfer of more than 2,400 Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to facilities in Belarus where they undergo political and cultural reeducation and military training.

(50)

The United States has imposed sanctions on hundreds of Belarusian individuals and entities, including visa restrictions against Belarusan government officials for undermining democracy in Belarus and supporting Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine, and their complicity in the abduction of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.'

Sec. 3. Statement of policy

Section 3 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows:

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, democratic opposition, 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 deportation of members of the Coordination Council and United Transitional Cabinet in Belarus;

(2)

to condemn the illegitimate Belarusian authorities’ allowance of Russian nuclear weapons to be deployed to Belarusian territory, their continued political and material support for Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine, and their continued participation in abducting and deporting Ukrainian children from territory occupied by the Russian Federation to the territory of Belarus;

(3)

to condemn the presence of Russian forces in Belarusian territory and demand the cessation of the use of Belarusian territory by Russian forces as a staging ground for Russia’s illegal, full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine or for the prevention of a peaceful democratic transition in Belarus;

(4)

to demand accountability for the illegal Lukashenka regime’s complicity in the crime of aggression against Ukraine through international justice mechanisms;

(5)

to condemn the weaponization of migrants wherein the Government of Belarus, led illegally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has sent thousands of migrants to the borders of Poland and Lithuania in an attempt to destabilize the border region;

(6)

to continue demanding the immediate release without preconditions of all political prisoners in Belarus and those arrested for peacefully protesting, including all those individuals detained in connection with the August 9, 2020, fraudulent presidential election;

(7)

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;

(8)

to continue actively supporting the aspirations of the people of the Republic of Belarus to preserve the independence and sovereignty of their country;

(9)

to continue refusing to recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s illegitimate regime and to continue supporting calls for Belarusian presidential and parliamentary elections to be conducted in a manner that is free and fair according to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards and under the supervision of OSCE observers and independent domestic observers, including in the 2025 presidential elections;

(10)

to continue calling for the Government of Belarus to fulfill its freely undertaken obligations as an OSCE participating state and as a signatory of the Charter of the United Nations;

(11)

to recognize the Coordination Council and the United Transitional Cabinet as legitimate institutions to participate in a dialogue on a peaceful transition of power, and to support these institutions prior to and during such a transition should it take place;

(12)

to condemn the deprivation of consular services to Belarusian citizens living abroad, including representatives of the Belarusian democratic opposition, and urge the United States to raise this to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe;

(13)

to encourage the United States Government to continue working closely with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries and international organizations to continue to impose targeted sanctions against officials in Belarus who are responsible for—

(A)

undermining democratic processes in Belarus;

(B)

participating in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights related to political repression in Belarus and undermining rule of law for the people of Belarus; or

(C)

enabling or facilitating Russia’s war in Ukraine;

(14)

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;

(15)

to encourage the United States to expeditiously appoint a U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus to fill the role vacated in June 2022; and

(16)

to support the use of the Strategic Dialogue between the United States Government as a means of furthering ties between the United States Government and the representatives of the democratic opposition of Belarus in pursuit of objectives, including—

(A)

accountability for the Lukashenka regime’s gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and domestic repressions;

(B)

increasing partnerships with the Belarusian people by supporting investments; and

support for the protection of Belarusian language, culture, and national identity.

Sec. 4. Assistance to promote democracy, civil society, and sovereignty in belarus

Section 4 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—

Sec. 5. International broadcasting, internet freedom, and access to information in belarus

Section 5 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—

Sec. 6. Sanctions against the government of belarus

Section 6 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—

Sec. 7. Multilateral cooperation

Section 7 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—

Sec. 8. Reports

Section 8 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—

Sec. 9. Definitions

Section 9 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 (Public Law 109–480; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended—