Lukashenko is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, having for decades relied on subsidies from Moscow to keep Belarus’s Soviet-style economy afloat. Russian support also helped the autocratic leader survive months of mass protests following the 2020 election that handed him a sixth term in office in a vote the West says was rigged. The United Kingdom is banning imports of gold from Belarus in a new wave of sanctions aimed at increasing economic pressure on the Kremlin-backed regime. Bans will be placed on the import of gold, cement, wood and rubber – all sources of revenue for authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko’s regime to the United Kingdom. Who sanctions the US friends on the crimes that they have committed across the globe ?