II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 3395
To reauthorize the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
DECEMBER5, 2023
Mrs. S
HAHEEN(for herself, Mr. WICKER, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
A BILL
To reauthorize the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Belarus Democracy, 4
Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Section 2 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 7
(Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended 8
to read as follows: 9
‘‘SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 10
‘‘Congress finds the following: 11
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‘‘(1) Consistently, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the 1
illegitimate leader of Belarus, engages in a pattern 2
of clear and persistent violations of human rights, 3
democratic governance, and fundamental freedoms. 4
‘‘(2) Alyaksandr Lukashenka has overseen and 5
participated in multiple fundamentally flawed presi-6
dential and parliamentary elections undermining the 7
legitimacy of executive, judicial, and legislative au-8
thority in Belarus. 9
‘‘(3) On August 9, 2020, the Government of 10
Belarus conducted a presidential election that was 11
fraudulent and did not meet international standards. 12
There were serious irregularities with ballot counting 13
and the reporting of election results. The Govern-14
ment of Belarus also put in place restrictive meas-15
ures that impeded the work of local independent ob-16
servers and did not provide sufficient notice to the 17
OSCE to allow for the OSCE to monitor the elec-18
tions, as is customary. 19
‘‘(4) Independent election monitors recognized 20
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as the legitimate winner 21
of the August 9, 2020 election for president in 22
Belarus following her candidacy after her husband, 23
opposition leader Sergei Tikhanovsky, was impris-24
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oned for challenging Lukashenka for president in 1
2020. 2
‘‘(5) Following threats to her safety, Sviatlana 3
Tsikhanouskaya was forced into exile in Lithuania 4
after Mr. Lukashenka claimed victory in the fraudu-5
lent 2020 elections, and since that time, the Govern-6
ment of Lithuania has hosted the Office of Sviatlana 7
Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian Democratic Leader, 8
and the Government of Poland has hosted the 9
Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet. 10
‘‘(6) Thousands of employees at Belarusian 11
state-owned enterprises went on strike across the 12
country to protest Mr. Lukashenka’s illegitimate 13
election and the subsequent crackdowns on peaceful 14
protestors to the contested results of the election, in-15
cluding at some of Belarus’s largest factories such 16
as the BelAZ truck plant, the Minsk Tractor Works, 17
and the Minsk Automobile Plant. 18
‘‘(7) After the August 9, 2020, presidential 19
election, the Government of Belarus restricted the 20
free flow of information to silence the opposition and 21
to conceal the regime’s violent crackdown on peace-22
ful protestors, including by stripping the accredita-23
tion of journalists from major foreign news outlets, 24
disrupting internet access, limiting access to social 25
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media and other digital communication platforms, 1
and detaining and harassing countless journalists. 2
‘‘(8) The Government of Belarus, led by 3
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, continues to subject thou-4
sands of pro-democracy political activists and peace-5
ful protesters to harassment, beatings, enforced dis-6
appearance, and imprisonment, particularly as a re-7
sult of their attempts to peacefully exercise their 8
right to freedom of assembly and association, includ-9
ing following violent crackdowns on peaceful 10
protestors and mass detentions of peaceful pro-11
testers resisting the results of the contested 2020 12
election. 13
‘‘(9) Women serve as the leading force in dem-14
onstrations across the country, protesting police bru-15
tality and mass detentions by wearing white, car-16
rying flowers, forming ‘solidarity chains’, and un-17
masking undercover police trying to arrest dem-18
onstrators. 19
‘‘(10) The Government of Belarus, led by 20
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, suppresses independent 21
media and journalists and restricts access to the 22
internet, including social media and other digital 23
communication platforms, in violation of the right to 24
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freedom of speech and expression of those dissenting 1
from the dictatorship of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. 2
‘‘(11) The Government of Belarus, led by 3
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has criminalized access to 4
independent media sources and media channels, in-5
cluding foreign media, by designating such sources 6
and channels as extremist and conducting arbitrary 7
arrests and detainments of media workers, activists, 8
and users. 9
‘‘(12) The Government of Belarus, led by 10
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, continues a systematic 11
campaign of harassment, repression, and closure of 12
nongovernmental organizations, including inde-13
pendent trade unions and entrepreneurs, creating a 14
climate of fear that inhibits the development of civil 15
society and social solidarity. 16
‘‘(13) The Government of Belarus, led by 17
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has pursued a policy un-18
dermining the country’s sovereignty and independ-19
ence by making Belarus political, economic, cultural, 20
and societal interests subservient to those of Russia. 21
‘‘(14) Against the will of the majority of the 22
Belarusian people, Russian President Vladimir Putin 23
has propped up the Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime, 24
including by offering security assistance, providing 25
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significant financial support, and sending Russian 1
propagandists to help disseminate pro-regime and 2
pro-Kremlin propaganda on Belarus state television. 3
‘‘(15) Efforts by the Government of the Rus-4
sian Federation to subsume Belarus into its sphere 5
of influence and consider Belarus as part of the 6
Russian empire or as a ‘Union State’ include secu-7
rity, political, economic, and ideological integration 8
between Russia and Belarus, which intensified in 9
2020 after President Putin supported Mr. 10
Lukashenka’s illegitimate election and resulted in 11
the Government of Belarus permitting Russian 12
troops to use Belarusian territory to conduct mili-13
tary exercises ahead of the February 2022 further 14
invasion of Ukraine and staging part of the Feb-15
ruary 2022 further invasion of Ukraine from 16
Belarusian territory, including by providing Russia 17
with the use of airbases which allowed Russia to 18
shoot artillery and missiles from Belarusian territory 19
into Ukraine. 20
‘‘(16) The United States Government and 21
United States partners and allies have imposed sanc-22
tions on Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the Govern-23
ment of Belarus in response to anti-democratic ac-24
tivities and human rights abuses for more than 20 25
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years, including in response to the Government of 1
Belarus’ support for Russia’s further invasion of 2
Ukraine, which include property blocking and visa 3
restrictions and export restrictions. 4
‘‘(17) The Kremlin has provided the Govern-5
ment of Belarus with loans amounting to more than 6
$1,500,000,000 dollars to prop up Lukashenka’s il-7
legitimate regime and Russia continues to provide 8
Belarus with access to an economic market to avoid 9
the impacts of United States and allied countries’ 10
sanctions on key Belarusian industries. 11
‘‘(18) The Government of Belarus is relied 12
upon by the Government of the Russian Federation 13
to increase production of ammunition and other mili-14
tary equipment to facilitate the Kremlin’s crimes of 15
aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity 16
during the illegal war in Ukraine. 17
‘‘(19) Since before the 2022 further invasion of 18
Ukraine, the Government of Belarus has hosted 19
Russian troops on Belarusian territory and enabled 20
the violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty by Russia in 21
February 2022 and since the further invasion of 22
Ukraine, the Government of Belarus has also hosted 23
Russian mercenary fighters and reportedly hosted 24
Russian nuclear warheads. 25
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‘‘(20) The international community has seen 1
credible evidence that children forcibly removed from 2
Ukraine by Russia during the further invasion of 3
Ukraine have transited through the territory of 4
Belarus or been illegally removed to the territory of 5
Belarus with support from Alyaksandr Lukashenka 6
and been subjected to Russian re-education pro-7
grams. 8
‘‘(21) The Government of Belarus’ continued 9
support of Russia, especially in the unprovoked fur-10
ther invasion of Ukraine, and continued oppression 11
of the Belarusian people may amount to crimes 12
against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of ag-13
gression. 14
‘‘(22) The Government of Belarus also threat-15
ens the safety, security, and sovereignty of European 16
countries, including NATO allies Latvia, Lithuania, 17
and Poland, by facilitating illegal migration through 18
the territory of Belarus, resulting in efforts by the 19
United States to support a Customs and Border Pa-20
trol Technical Assessment in Latvia to ensure Euro-21
pean allies and partners can secure their borders. 22
‘‘(23) The Government of Lithuania and other 23
United States partners and allies host independent 24
Belarusian free media, including Radio Free Europe/ 25
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Radio Liberty’s Minsk bureau, and facilitate infor-1
mation and content in the Belarusian language, 2
which the Lukashenka regime has dismissed and de- 3
facto outlawed as an inferior language to Russian 4
for the purpose of facilitating Russification cam-5
paigns in Belarus. 6
‘‘(24) The governments of Lithuania, Latvia, 7
Poland, and other European partners host members 8
of the Belarusian pro-democracy movement, includ-9
ing political leaders, free and independent media, 10
and exiled civil society groups and provide essential 11
support to these individuals and groups that make 12
up the Belarus democracy movement. 13
‘‘(25) The Government of Belarus has further 14
attempted to suppress freedom of movement of 15
Belarusian people and Belarusian diaspora and re-16
taliate against those Belarusians living overseas and 17
who have fled the Lukashenka regime by refusing to 18
provide overseas passport services. 19
‘‘(26) The International Civil Aviation Organi-20
zation found that the Government of Belarus com-21
mitted an act of unlawful interference when it delib-22
erately diverted Ryanair Flight 9478 in order to ar-23
rest two Belarusian citizens, including an opposition 24
activist and journalist. 25
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‘‘(27) The Belarus democracy movement has le-1
gitimate aspirations for a transatlantic future for 2
the people of Belarus and continue to seek justice 3
for those imprisoned and oppressed by the 4
Lukashenka regime and resist Russian encroach-5
ment on Belarusian territory, culture, and identity.’’. 6
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 7
Section 3 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 8
(Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended 9
to read as follows: 10
‘‘SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 11
‘‘It is the policy of the United States— 12
‘‘(1) to condemn the conduct of the August 9, 13
2020, presidential election and crackdown on opposi-14
tion candidates, members of the Coordination Coun-15
cil, peaceful protestors, employees from state-owned 16
enterprises participating in strikes, independent elec-17
tion observers, and independent journalists and 18
bloggers; 19
‘‘(2) to recognize Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as 20
the Democratic Leader of Belarus; 21
‘‘(3) to refuse to recognize Alyaksandr 22
Lukashenka as the legitimately elected leader of 23
Belarus; 24
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‘‘(4) to seek to engage with the United Transi-1
tional Cabinet as the executive body that represents 2
the aspirations and beliefs of the Belarusian people 3
and as a legitimate institution to participate in a 4
dialogue on a peaceful transition of power and sup-5
port its stated objectives of— 6
‘‘(A) defending the independence and sov-7
ereignty of the Republic of Belarus; 8
‘‘(B) representing the national interests of 9
Belarus; 10
‘‘(C) carrying out the de-facto de-occupa-11
tion of Belarus; 12
‘‘(D) restoring constitutional legality and 13
the rule of law; 14
‘‘(E) developing and implementing meas-15
ures to thwart illegal retention of power; 16
‘‘(F) ensuring the transition of power from 17
dictatorship to democracy; 18
‘‘(G) creating conditions for free and fair 19
elections in Belarus; and 20
‘‘(H) developing and implementing solu-21
tions needed to secure democratic changes in 22
Belarus; 23
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‘‘(5) to continue to call for the immediate re-1
lease without preconditions of all political prisoners 2
in Belarus; 3
‘‘(6) to continue to support the aspirations of 4
the people of Belarus for democracy, human rights, 5
and the rule of law; 6
‘‘(7) to continue to support actively the aspira-7
tions of the people of the Republic of Belarus to pre-8
serve the independence and sovereignty of their 9
country and to pursue a Euro-Atlantic future; 10
‘‘(8) not to recognize any incorporation of 11
Belarus into a ‘Union State’ with Russia, as this so- 12
called ‘Union State’ would be both an attempt to ab-13
sorb Belarus and a step to reconstituting the totali-14
tarian Soviet Union; 15
‘‘(9) to condemn efforts by the Government of 16
the Russian Federation to undermine the sov-17
ereignty and independence of Belarus, and to con-18
tinue to implement policies, including sanctions, that 19
serve to punish Russia for its anti-democratic and il-20
legal actions involving Belarus; 21
‘‘(10) to continue to reject the fraudulent vic-22
tory of Mr. Lukashenka on August 9, 2020, and to 23
support calls for new presidential and parliamentary 24
elections, conducted in a manner that is free and 25
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fair according to OSCE standards and under the su-1
pervision of OSCE observers and independent do-2
mestic observers; 3
‘‘(11) to continue to call for the fulfillment by 4
the Government of Belarus of Belarus’s freely un-5
dertaken obligations as an OSCE participating state 6
and as a signatory of the Charter of the United Na-7
tions; 8
‘‘(12) to support an OSCE role in mediating a 9
dialogue within Belarus between the government and 10
genuine representatives of Belarusian society; 11
‘‘(13) to support international efforts to launch 12
investigations into the Government of Belarus and 13
individuals associated with the Government of 14
Belarus for war crimes and crimes against humanity 15
against the people of Belarus and the people of 16
Ukraine for their actions during the further invasion 17
of Ukraine; 18
‘‘(14) to support a United States diplomatic 19
presence to engage with the people of Belarus, in-20
cluding the regular appointment of a United States 21
Special Envoy to Belarus until such a time that the 22
credentials of a United States Ambassador to 23
Belarus are recognized by the Government of 24
Belarus; 25
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‘‘(15) to continue to work closely with the Eu-1
ropean Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and 2
other countries and international organizations, to 3
promote the principles of democracy, the rule of law, 4
and human rights in Belarus; 5
‘‘(16) to remain open to reevaluating United 6
States policy toward Belarus as warranted by de-7
monstrable progress made by the Government of 8
Belarus consistent with the aims of this Act, as stat-9
ed in this section; 10
‘‘(17) to express concern in the event that social 11
media or technology companies move to block inde-12
pendent media content or participate in media black-13
outs that prevent free and independent media serv-14
ices from transmitting information into Belarus; 15
‘‘(18) to continue to support Belarusian lan-16
guage and cultural programs, including by sup-17
porting Belarusian language independent media pro-18
grams, and Belarusian civil society, including efforts 19
to restore democracy and the regular function of 20
democratic institutions in Belarus; 21
‘‘(19) to work with the Belarusian democratic 22
movement and European allies and partners to en-23
sure Belarusian nationals living outside of Belarus 24
have access to national identification documentation 25
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following the Lukashenka regime’s decision to stop 1
supplying overseas passport services to Belarusians; 2
‘‘(20) to provide technical support to the United 3
Transitional Cabinet of Belarus and European allies 4
and partners to develop and implement national 5
identification documents (New Belarusian Passport) 6
that will enable the more than 2,000,000 7
Belarusians living abroad to access freedom of move-8
ment and essential services while maintaining 9
Belarusian national identity and unity; 10
‘‘(21) to include Belarusian nationals living in 11
Ukraine as of February 24, 2022, in the Uniting 12
For Ukraine program to provide a pathway for 13
Belarusian nations and their immediate family mem-14
bers outside of the United States to come to the 15
United States and stay for a period of not more 16
than two years of parole and subject those 17
Belarusian nationals to the same qualifications for 18
entry into the program as Ukrainian nationals; 19
‘‘(22) to engage in the United States-Belarus 20
democratic movement strategic dialogue when nec-21
essary to reaffirm commitments to promoting free-22
dom and democracy in Belarus and promote efforts 23
to restore free and open presidential and parliamen-24
tary elections in Belarus that are conducted con-25
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sistent with OSCE standards and under the super-1
vision of OSCE observers and independent domestic 2
observers; 3
‘‘(23) to refuse to recognize the legitimacy of 4
the Lukashenka regime to enter into any inter-5
national agreements or treaties; 6
‘‘(24) to advocate for the inclusion of the 7
Belarus democratic movement to participate in inter-8
national institutions and be granted Permanent Ob-9
server Status by the United Nations General Assem-10
bly; 11
‘‘(25) to establish a Belarus service at Voice of 12
America through the United States Agency for Glob-13
al Media that broadcasts in the Belarusian language; 14
‘‘(26) to continue to support the Governments 15
of Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland in providing crit-16
ical support to the Belarusian government, civil soci-17
ety, and media in exile; 18
‘‘(27) to transfer when applicable existing bilat-19
eral funding for Belarus toward sustaining pro-de-20
mocracy and civil society initiatives outside the terri-21
tory of Belarus; 22
‘‘(28) to continue to ban ticket sales for air 23
travel to Belarus until such a time that civilians do 24
not face random arrests by the Government of 25
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Belarus, a ban that was enacted following the un-1
lawful actions of the Government of Belarus to de-2
liberately divert Ryanair Flight 9478; and 3
‘‘(29) to continue to work with international al-4
lies and partners to coordinate support for the peo-5
ple of Belarus and their legitimate aspirations for a 6
free, open, and democratic society and the regular 7
conduct of free and fair elections.’’. 8
SEC. 4. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR BELARUS. 9
(a) S
PECIALENVOY.—The President shall appoint a 10
Special Envoy for Belarus within the Department of State 11
(referred to in this section as the ‘‘Special Envoy’’). 12
(b) Q
UALIFICATIONS.—The Special Envoy— 13
(1) should be a person of recognized distinction 14
in the field of European security, geopolitics, democ-15
racy, and human rights; and 16
(2) may be a career foreign service officer. 17
(c) C
ENTRALOBJECTIVE.—The central objective of 18
the Special Envoy is to coordinate and promote efforts— 19
(1) to improve respect for the fundamental 20
human rights of the people of Belarus; 21
(2) to sustain focus on the national security im-22
plications, for the United States, of Belarus’s polit-23
ical and military alignment; and 24
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(3) to respond to the political, economic, and 1
security impacts of events in Belarus on neighboring 2
countries and the wider region. 3
(d) D
UTIES ANDRESPONSIBILITIES.—The Special 4
Envoy shall— 5
(1) engage in discussions with Belarusian offi-6
cials regarding human rights and political, economic, 7
and security issues in Belarus; 8
(2) support international efforts to promote 9
human rights and political freedoms in Belarus, in-10
cluding coordination and dialogue between the 11
United States and the United Nations, the Organi-12
zation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the 13
European Union, Belarus, and the other countries in 14
Eastern Europe; 15
(3) consult with nongovernmental organizations 16
that have attempted to address human rights and 17
political and economic instability in Belarus; 18
(4) make recommendations regarding the fund-19
ing of activities promoting human rights, democracy, 20
the rule of law, and the development of a market 21
economy in Belarus; 22
(5) review strategies for improving protection of 23
human rights in Belarus, including technical train-24
ing and exchange programs; 25
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(6) develop an action plan for holding to ac-1
count the perpetrators of the human rights viola-2
tions, documented in the United Nations High Com-3
missioner for Human Rights report on the situation 4
of human rights in Belarus in the run-up to the 5
2020 presidential election and its aftermath (Human 6
Rights Council Resolution 49/36); 7
(7) engage with member countries of the North 8
Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization for 9
Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Euro-10
pean Union with respect to the implications of 11
Belarus’s political and security alignment for trans-12
atlantic security; and 13
(8) work within the Department of State and 14
among partnering countries to sustain focus on the 15
political situation in Belarus. 16
(e) R
OLE.—The position of Special Envoy— 17
(1) shall be a full-time position; 18
(2) may not be combined with any other posi-19
tion within the Department of State; 20
(3) shall only exist for the period during which 21
United States diplomatic operations in Belarus at 22
the United States Embassy in Minsk have been sus-23
pended; and 24
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(4) shall oversee the operations and personnel 1
of the Belarus Affairs Unit of the Department of 2
State. 3
(f) R
EPORT ONACTIVITIES.—Not later than 180 4
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annu-5
ally thereafter for the following øfive¿ years, the Secretary 6
of State, in consultation with the Special Envoy, shall sub-7
mit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 8
that describes the activities undertaken pursuant to sub-9
section (d) during the reporting period. 10
(g) T
ERMINATION.—The position of Special Envoy 11
for Belarus Affairs and the authorities provided by this 12
section shall terminate on the date that is øfive¿ years 13
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 14
SEC. 5. STRATEGIC DIALOGUE WITH THE BELARUS DEMOC-15
RACY MOVEMENT. 16
(a) S
TRATEGICDIALOGUE.—The President shall di-17
rect the Secretary of State to host a strategic dialogue 18
with the Belarus Democracy Movement not fewer than 19
once every 12 months following the date of the enactment 20
of this Act. 21
(b) C
ENTRALOBJECTIVE.—The central objective of 22
the strategic dialogue required under subsection (a) is to 23
coordinate and promote efforts— 24
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(1) to consider the efforts needed to return to 1
democratic rule in Belarus, including the efforts 2
needed to support free and fair elections in Belarus; 3
(2) to support the day-to-day functions of the 4
Belarus Democracy Movement, which represents the 5
legitimate aspirations of the Belarusian people, and 6
ensure that Belarusians living outside the territory 7
of Belarus have adequate access to essential services; 8
and 9
(3) to respond to the political, economic, and 10
security impacts of events in Belarus and Russia on 11
neighboring countries and the wider region. 12
(c) T
ERMINATION.—The strategic dialogue with the 13
Belarus Democracy Movement and the authorities pro-14
vided by this section shall terminate on the date that is 15
øfive¿ years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 16
SEC. 6. ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTE DEMOCRACY, CIVIL SO-17
CIETY, AND SOVEREIGNTY IN BELARUS. 18
Section 4 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 19
(Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amend-20
ed— 21
(1) in subsection (c)— 22
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in-23
cluding by establishing a Belarus service at 24
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Voice of America to include broadcasts in the 1
Belarusian language’’ after ‘‘within Belarus’’; 2
(B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘in the 3
Belarusian language’’ after ‘‘and Internet 4
media’’; 5
(C) by striking paragraphs (11) and (14); 6
(D) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 7
through (10) as paragraphs (4) through (11), 8
respectively; 9
(E) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 10
following new paragraph: 11
‘‘(3) countering internet and media censorship 12
and repressive surveillance technology that seeks to 13
limit free association, control access to information, 14
and prevent citizens from exercising their rights to 15
free speech;’’; 16
(F) in paragraph (11), as redesignated by 17
subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘and the devel-18
opment of Belarusian cultural programs’’ after 19
‘‘supporting the development of Belarusian lan-20
guage education’’; 21
(G) in paragraph (12), by inserting ‘‘, in-22
cluding refugees from Belarus in Ukraine and 23
refugees from Ukraine fleeing Russia’s 24
unprovoked war following the February 2022 25
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•S 3395 IS
further invasion of Ukraine’’ after ‘‘supporting 1
political refugees in neighboring European 2
countries fleeing the crackdown in Belarus’’; 3
(H) in paragraph (13)— 4
(i) by inserting ‘‘and war crimes’’ 5
after ‘‘human rights abuses’’; and 6
(ii) by striking the semicolon and in-7
serting ‘‘; and’’; and 8
(I) by redesignating paragraph (15) as 9
paragraph (14); 10
(2) in subsection (f), by striking ‘‘2020’’ and 11
inserting ‘‘2023’’; and 12
(3) by striking subsection (g). 13
SEC. 7. INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING, INTERNET FREE-14
DOM, AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN 15
BELARUS. 16
Section 5 of the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, 17
and Sovereignty Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 18
U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended— 19
(1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘and 20
Voice of America’’ after ‘‘Radio Free Europe/Radio 21
Liberty’’; and 22
(2) in subsection (b)(1)— 23
(A) by striking ‘‘2020’’ and inserting 24
‘‘2023’’; 25
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•S 3395 IS
(B) in subparagraph (A) by inserting ‘‘, in-1
cluding through social media platforms,’’ after 2
‘‘communications in Belarus’’; and 3
(C) in subparagraph (C) by inserting ‘‘, in-4
cluding by ensuring private companies do not 5
comply with media blackouts directed by or fa-6
vored by the Government of Belarus’’ after ‘‘ac-7
cess and block content online’’. 8
SEC. 8. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF 9
BELARUS. 10
Section 6 of the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, 11
and Sovereignty Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 12
U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended— 13
(1) in subsection (b)— 14
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 15
through (5) as paragraphs (3) through (6), re-16
spectively; 17
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 18
following new paragraph: 19
‘‘(2) The release of Ukrainian nationals illegally 20
held in Belarus, including those illegally transferred 21
to Belarus after the 2022 Russian further invasion 22
of Ukraine.’’; 23
(C) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by 24
subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘, and people 25
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•S 3395 IS
who protested the support of the Government of 1
Belarus for the further Russian invasion of 2
Ukraine and cooperation of the Government of 3
Belarus with Russia’’ after ‘‘August 9, 2020’’; 4
and 5
(D) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated, 6
by inserting ‘‘, or for providing support in con-7
nection with the illegal further Russian invasion 8
of Ukraine’’ after ‘‘August 9, 2020’’; and 9
(2) in subsection (c)— 10
(A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 11
‘‘
AND THEFEBRUARY, 24, 2022, FURTHERIN-12
VASION OFUKRAINE’’ after ‘‘ELECTION’’; 13
(B) by redesignating paragraphs (5) 14
through (9) as paragraphs (6) through (10), re-15
spectively; 16
(C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 17
following new paragraph: 18
‘‘(5) assisted the Government of Belarus in— 19
‘‘(A) supporting security cooperation with 20
the Government of Russia in advance of the 21
February 24, 2022, further invasion of 22
Ukraine; 23
‘‘(B) supporting the presence of Russian 24
mercenaries in the territory of Belarus; or 25
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•S 3395 IS
‘‘(C) supporting ongoing security coopera-1
tion with the Government of Russia, including 2
the Government of Belarus’ decision to host 3
Russian tactical nuclear weapons;’’; and 4
(D) in paragraph (6), as redesignated by 5
subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, or in connec-6
tion with the 2022 Russian further invasion of 7
Ukraine’’ after ‘‘August 9, 2020’’. 8
SEC. 9. MULTILATERAL COOPERATION. 9
Section 7 of the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, 10
and Sovereignty Act of 2020 (Public Law 108–347; 22 11
U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended— 12
(1) in paragraph (1); by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 13
inserting a semicolon; 14
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 15
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 16
(3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-17
lowing new paragraphs: 18
‘‘(3) to condemn the continued collaboration be-19
tween the Government of Belarus and the Govern-20
ment of Russia, particularly as it relates to the fur-21
ther invasion of Ukraine, and further the purposes 22
of this Act, including, as appropriate, to levy sanc-23
tions and additional measures against the Govern-24
ment of Belarus for its complicity in war crimes and 25
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•S 3395 IS
crimes against humanity committed in the territory 1
of Ukraine; and 2
‘‘(4) to provide technical assistance to the 3
Belarus democracy movement on the creation and 4
international recognition of national identity docu-5
mentation following the Lukashenka regime’s deci-6
sion to cease overseas passport services for 7
Belarusian nationals, with the objective of maintain-8
ing Belarusian national identity and unity but pro-9
viding Belarusians living overseas with freedom of 10
movement and the ability to access essential serv-11
ices.’’. 12
SEC. 10. PARTICIPATION OF BELARUS IN UNITING FOR 13
UKRAINE. 14
The Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, and Sov-15
ereignty Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 16
5811 note) is amended— 17
(1) by redesignating sections 8 and 9 as sec-18
tions 9 and 10, respectively; and 19
(2) by inserting after section 7 the following 20
new section: 21
‘‘SEC. 8. PARTICIPATION OF BELARUS IN UNITING FOR 22
UKRAINE. 23
‘‘(a) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-24
gress that— 25
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•S 3395 IS
‘‘(1) there are a significant number of 1
Belarusian nationals residing in Ukraine and suf-2
fering from Russian aggression during the further 3
Russian invasion of Ukraine; and 4
‘‘(2) Belarusian nationals may experience 5
threats to their physical security due to political per-6
secution or retribution or human rights abuses if 7
they return to Belarus. 8
‘‘(b) U
NITING FORUKRAINEPARTICIPATION.— 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 10
after the date of the enactment of this section, the 11
Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland 12
Security shall provide a pathway for Belarusian na-13
tionals living in Ukraine following the February 24, 14
2022, further invasion of Ukraine to participate in 15
the Uniting for Ukraine program. 16
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTION.—The Secretary of State and 17
the Secretary of Homeland Security may delay im-18
plementation of the pathway required under para-19
graph (1) if they determine that it is counter to 20
United States national security interests.’’. 21
SEC. 11. REPORTS. 22
Section 9 of the Belarus Democracy, Human Rights, 23
and Sovereignty Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 24
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•S 3395 IS
U.S.C. 5811 note), as redesignated by section 8(1) of this 1
Act, is amended— 2
(1) in subsection (a)— 3
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘2020’’ 4
and inserting ‘‘2023’’; and 5
(B) in paragraph (2)— 6
(i) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘; 7
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 8
(ii) in subparagraph (H), by striking 9
the period at the end and inserting a semi-10
colon; and 11
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-12
lowing new subparagraphs: 13
‘‘(I) an assessment of how the Government 14
of Russia is working to achieve deeper security 15
cooperation and interdependence or integration 16
with Belarus; 17
‘‘(J) a description of the Government of 18
Belarus actions to support the 2022 further 19
Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing Rus-20
sian aggression in Ukraine; 21
‘‘(K) a description of how the Government 22
of Belarus supports, adopts, and deploys Rus-23
sian disinformation campaigns or Belarusian 24
disinformation campaigns; and 25
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•S 3395 IS
‘‘(L) an identification of Belarusian offi-1
cials involved in continued support to Russia 2
and the further invasion of Ukraine and an 3
identification of Russian officials involved in 4
continued support to Belarus and the further 5
invasion of Ukraine.’’; 6
(2) in subsection (b)(1)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘2020’’ and inserting 8
‘‘2023’’; 9
(B) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘; 10
and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 11
(C) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 12
period at the end and inserting a semicolon; 13
and 14
(D) by adding at the end the following new 15
subparagraphs: 16
‘‘(C) an identification of efforts by the 17
Government of Belarus and the Government of 18
Russia to circumvent sanctions, including those 19
imposed by the United States in response to the 20
further invasion of Ukraine; 21
‘‘(D) an assessment of the shared assets 22
and business interests of Vladimir Putin and 23
Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the Government of 24
Belarus and the Government of Russia; and 25
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•S 3395 IS
‘‘(E) a determination on the possibility for 1
Belarus to host free and fair elections during 2
the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2024 3
and the presidential election scheduled for 4
2025, including a proposal of how the United 5
States may support a return to democracy in 6
the anticipated elections in Belarus.’’; and 7
(3) by adding at the end the following new sub-8
section: 9
‘‘(c) R
EPORT ON EFFORTS TOENABLE 10
B
ELARUSIANSLIVINGOUTSIDE THE TERRITORY OF 11
B
ELARUS TOTRAVELFREELY.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 13
after the date of the enactment of the Belarus De-14
mocracy, Human Rights, and Sovereignty Act of 15
2023, the Secretary of State, in coordination with 16
the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall submit to 17
the appropriate congressional committees a report 18
describing efforts to provide Belarusians living out-19
side the territory of Belarus with national identifica-20
tion documents. 21
‘‘(2) E
LEMENTS.—The report required under 22
paragraph (1) shall include the following elements: 23
‘‘(A) An assessment of the European 24
Union’s efforts to provide Belarusians living 25
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•S 3395 IS
overseas with national identification documents 1
that maintain Belarusian nationality but enable 2
Belarusians living overseas to travel freely and 3
access essential services. 4
‘‘(B) A description of efforts to provide 5
technical assistance to the Belarus democratic 6
movement on the creation of national identifica-7
tion documents that fulfill the needs described 8
in subparagraph (A). 9
‘‘(3) F
ORM.—The report required by this sub-10
section shall be transmitted in unclassified form but 11
may contain a classified annex.’’. 12
SEC. 12. DEFINITIONS. 13
Section 10(1)(B) of the Belarus Democracy Act of 14
2004 (Public Law 108–347; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note), as re-15
designated by section 10(1) of this Act, is amended by 16
striking ‘‘Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af-17
fairs’’ and inserting ‘‘the Committee on Homeland Secu-18
rity and Governmental Affairs’’. 19
Æ
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