22/09/2020 (Agence Europe) – The United States is ready to impose sanctions against those responsible for electoral fraud and violence in Belarus and hopes to align its announcement with the announcement of European sanctions, said George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the U.S. Department of State, in an interview with EUROPE and AFP on Tuesday 22 September. We are seeking to align ourselves (with the EU) in terms of “ timing ” as much as possible, Kent explained, while indicating that the two lists of targeted individuals will not be entirely similar. While Washington was hoping for a sign from the EU at the end of the EU summit originally scheduled for Thursday 24 and Friday 25 September, it was postponed a few hours after this interview (see separate news). On Monday, European Foreign Ministers failed to agree on the adoption of sanctions (see EUROPE 12564/1). (DG)