The United States on Monday imposed a raft of new sanctions against Belarus following the post-election crackdown against the country's opposition, the State Department said Monday. "The United States announces today measures to respond to the brutal crackdown by President (Alexander) Lukashenko and the government of Belarus in the wake of the presidential election of December 19, 2010," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement.
He added that the "disproportionate use of force and initial detentions of hundreds of demonstrators" among other offenses by the Minsk government "oblige the United States and others in the international community to act."