Андрей Рыбаков. Фото: "Белнефтехим".
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) removed Andrei Rybakou, CEO of Belaruskali, from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) sanctions list on October 21. The decision was published on the agency’s website.
The document identifies Andrei Aliakseyevich Rybakou, born on July 11, 1976, in Mahiliou. OFAC removed entries containing several Latin-script variations of his name from the list. The agency did not disclose the reasons for the decision. This was a removal from the sanctions list, not a temporary suspension of restrictions.
Rybakou was placed under US sanctions on August 9, 2021, when he headed the Belneftekhim concern. At the time, the US Treasury Department explained that he had been designated for acting or purporting to act, directly or indirectly, for or on behalf of the concern, which had been under sanctions since 2007. The restrictions against Rybakou were imposed under Executive Order 13405.
Rybakou became CEO of Belaruskali in November 2024. Aliaksandr Lukashenka approved his appointment on November 4. Explaining the personnel decision, head of Lukashenka’s administration Dzmitry Kruty cited Rybakou’s experience working with companies subject to sanctions. Rybakou is still listed as the company’s head on Belaruskali’s official website.
It is worth noting that some media outlets incorrectly reported that sanctions had been lifted against Belarus’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Valiantsin Rybakou.