US, EU and allies impose sanctions on Belarus

USA, the European Union (EU), Great Britain and Canada simultaneously imposed sanctions on dozens of government officials, organizations and companies. Belarus. For its part, the EU is targeting those accused of participating in a “hybrid attack” against the bloc using migrants.

The three countries and the 27-nation bloc have targeted Belarus since President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term last year in an election that the West and other observers called fraud and repressed peaceful protests. that occurred after the elections.

The US State Department noted that the Treasury Department has “identified three aircraft as blocked property and has designated 32 individuals and entities, including Belarusian state-owned companies, government officials, and others, who support the regime and facilitate its repression”.

The EU, meanwhile, imposed travel bans and froze assets on 17 more people, including high-ranking military and border officials, government representatives and judges.

The sanctions also affect airlines, including the state-owned Belavia, and travel groups accused by the EU of collaborating in the transfer of migrants to Belarus with the aim of helping them cross into the 27-nation bloc, via Poland, Lithuania. and Latvia.

Britain noted that it had imposed sanctions “on eight Belarusian individuals responsible for repression and human rights violations.” It also froze the assets of OJSC Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest potash fertilizer producers, which is an important source of income for the Belarusian government.

The US State Department noted that “today’s actions demonstrate our unwavering determination to act in the face of a brutal regime that increasingly cracks down on Belarusians, undermines the peace and security of Europe, and continues to abuse people who just want to live. on freedom”.

At least 8,000 migrants, many of them Iraqis, have entered the EU without legal authorization this year from Belarus. Lithuania and Poland declared a state of emergency on their borders to prevent people from crossing. Several people have died trapped in the border area between Poland and Belarus amid freezing temperatures.