Belarus Denies Arms Sales to Syria After U.S. Treasury Sanctions

Belarus denied selling materials to Syria that were used to produce aerial bombs deployed in a crackdown against civilians after the U.S. imposed sanctions against Belvneshpromservice, a state-owned arms supplier.

The accusations are “groundless and untrue,” the Belarusian Foreign Ministry in the capital, Minsk, said in a statement on its website today. “This is no more than an attempt to pressure Belarus for our country’s open and principled position in favor of a peaceful settlement in the Syrian conflict.”

The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Minsk-based Belvneshpromservice for “providing services” to Syria’s Army Supply Bureau. The “actions seek to disrupt the flow of weapons and communications equipment to the Syrian regime and help prevent their use against the Syrian people,” Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen said in a statement yesterday.

Belvneshpromservice is licensed by the government to develop, produce, modernize and sell weapons, according to its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aliaksandr Kudrytski in Minsk, Belarus at akudrytski@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net