OJSC BELARUSKALI is one of the world’s largest producers of the key fertilizer ingredient potassium chloride (potash), and is 100% owned by the Belarusian state. As a state-owned enterprise, OJSC BELARUSKALI is a major source of revenue and foreign currency for the Lukashenko regime, including through the transfer of OJSC BELARUSKALI’s profits to the National Development Fund which is directed by Lukashenko. Export duties and taxes generated by OJSC BELARUSKALI account for 8-10% of the total budget of the Government of Belarus, and are therefore critically important in maintaining the regime and enabling its actions. Through the production of potash and its treatment of striking workers during the protests and crackdown in 2020, OJSC BELARUSKALI has helped prop up the authoritarian rule of Lukashenko’s regime. OJSC BELARUSKALI therefore is or has been involved in providing support for the Government of Belarus, which has taken actions to undermine democracy and the rule of law, repress civil society and the democratic opposition, and commit serious human rights violations.
