Belarus opposition leader asks U.S. to impose more sanctions

FILE PHOTO: Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya attends a meeting with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (not pictured) at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Germany, December 14, 2020. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Tuesday that she asked U.S. officials to impose sanctions on companies in her country's potash, oil, wood and steel sectors, as she visited Washington seeking stronger action against President Alexander Lukashenko's government.

Such measures would go beyond existing sanctions on Lukashenko's political allies and government bodies and "will be a real hit on him, to make him change his behavior and to release political prisoners," Tsikhanouskaya told reporters.