The EU Council announced the measures taken in the form of economic sectoral sanctions against Belarus in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk and the arrest of the founder of the Nexta Telegram channel Roman Protasevich.
Their list includes: restrictions on the trade of petrochemical products, potassium chloride, technologies and equipment for tracking the Internet, equipment and raw materials for the tobacco industry, products that can be used for the needs of the police or the army. That is, sanctions have been introduced against key areas of the economy, which form the basis of Belarusian exports.
But that’s not all. The new financial restrictions are no less severe: the European Investment Bank stops financing all programs related to Belarus. Insurance of state bodies and the government of the country is prohibited. European countries will limit the participation of multilateral development banks in the country.
Josep Borrell, head of European Union diplomacy, said the sanctions “will hit the Belarusian economy hard.” And German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas notes that the areas targeted by the sanctions “are of particular importance for the regime’s income.”
Earlier, Brussels announced sanctions against 86 companies and individuals. Their reasons, as indicated, are pressure on the opposition, violation of human rights, the incident with the Ryanair plane.
This is the fourth package of European sanctions introduced as a result of falsified presidential elections on August 9, 2020 and the government’s repression against participants in demonstrations that swept across the country after Lukashenka was declared the winner. The president himself has repeatedly stated that the West is “shaking the situation in the country.”
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