EU tightens Belarus sanctions to combat evasion tactics by Russia

• Belgium, holding the EU's rotating presidency, announced the agreement in principle.
• The new sanctions will strengthen measures in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• The EU has already imposed 14 packages of sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine.

EU countries agreed on Wednesday to impose new sanctions on Belarus over the Ukraine war to bring them more closely in line with measures targeting Russia, officials said. Belgium, holding the EU’s rotating presidency, announced that "EU Ambassadors agreed in principle on a new package of sanctions targeting Belarus."

“This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions,” it said.

The European Union has targeted the government of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin’s closest ally, for allowing his country to be used as a staging post for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Officials view aligning the sanctions on Belarus more closely with those on Moscow as crucial for halting the flow of banned goods, such as microchips that can be used on the battlefield in Ukraine, to Russia. They assert that Belarus has served as a backdoor for getting sanctioned products from the EU into Russia, allowing them to be officially exported to Belarus before onward transit to its much larger neighbor.

“Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia. With this package we increase the pressure on both countries and make our sanctions against Russia even more effective,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

Efforts to strengthen sanctions on Belarus, which is in a customs union with Russia, were stalled for over a year due to Lithuania blocking efforts to relax restrictions on its lucrative fertilizer exports. Some EU states argued that allowing fertilizer exports could help alleviate food supply issues in developing nations.

But the Baltic state argued that third countries had already sought supplies from other sources and that lifting restrictions on Belarus would result in billions of dollars in revenue flowing to Belarusian authorities. EU diplomats clarified that no exemptions had been granted for fertilizer exports.

Before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU had already imposed repeated rounds of sanctions on Lukashenko’s government for its crackdown on protests. The 27-nation bloc has issued an unprecedented 14 packages of sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine.

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