June 29, Pozirk. The Council of the European Union has adopted new economic restrictions against Belarus, punishing Alaksandar Łukašenka’s support of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, its press office reports.
Adopted measures mirror restrictions against Russia, aiming to stop sanctions circumvention caused by the high degree of integration between both economies, it noted.
Sanctions include a ban on supplies and transit of dual-use goods and technologies, with further export restrictions on goods which could strengthen Belarusian industrial potential. The Council also limited exports of luxury goods and maritime navigation goods and technologies.
The EU banned imports of gold and diamonds as well as coal and crude oil from Belarus, along with a new export ban on goods and technologies used in oil refining and the liquefaction of natural gas.
Other restrictions feature a ban on the provision of accounting, legal, advertising, engineering, IT, business and management consulting services to Belarusian authorities or individuals and companies acting on their behalf.
The Council also extended the ban on transportation of goods by road by trailers and semi-trailers registered in Belarus and by trucks registered outside Belarus. EU cargo companies, in which Belarusian nationals or companies hold a more than 25-percent, are prohibited from doing business and transporting goods by road in the EU, including by transit.
The Council required that EU exporters use the so-called “no-Belarus clause” in their contracts which prohibits reexports of “sensitive goods and technology, battlefield goods, firearms and ammunition.”
The EU started introducing sanctions against Belarus in 2020, two years before Russia’s war on Ukraine, accusing its government of vote rigging and human rights abuses.
The Belarusian defense sector was targeted later for supplying arms to Russia and circumventing Western sanctions.
