U.S. imposes visa restrictions over opposition trials in Belarus

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on the "U.S. Strategy on Global Women's Economic Security," at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 4, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States imposed visa restrictions Tuesday on 25 people including lawmakers for undermining democracy in Belarus with politically motivated trials such as that of exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Belarus put Tsikhanouskaya on trial in absentia on treason charges on Tuesday, in what the outspoken critic of veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko said would be a "farce and a show."