On Tuesday 29th September 2020 Dominic Raab annnounced that 8 high ranking Belarus regime officials would be subject to asset freezes in the UK and a travel ban on entering the UK. They included Mr Lukashenka and his son Viktar. 

On 2nd October 2020 the EU agreed a list of 40 Belarus persons to be sanctioned for election fraud, cruelty and torture. 5 of these are in the UK list , hence the UK, under the Brexit Treaty, is now obliged to add 35 more names to its UK Sanctions list.

The question remains why this took so long - 77 days (11 weeks) after the first abuses and cruelty to peaceful demonstrators,  around 14th/15th July. The argument is used that UK wanted to work in step and in partnership with international colleagues. But the greater importance of urgency of deterrence and sending a strong signal seems not taken into account.  Something is better than nothing, and UK is able to act independently, not requiring other countries to agree. UK is no longer subject to EU unanimity approaches.

The demand in this petition has, now been, in part, achieved. More sanctioned persons are required, and it should not have taken so long for the UK to send a signal to the Belarusian election fraudsters and torturers.