The European Union has approved new sanctions against Belarus for its supporting role in Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, effectively banning about 70 per cent of all imports from that country, the EU said on Wednesday.
The fresh sanctions, which spare for now Belarusian banks, come after Minsk allowed Russian troops to move into Ukraine from its territory, as well as changed its constitution to allow permanent deployment of Russian forces and nuclear weapons on its soil. Read more: UN General Assembly overwhelmingly backs vote to deplore Russia’s war in Ukraine The measures include fresh economic sanctions and new listings of 22 high-ranking members of the Belarusian military involved in the aggression against Ukraine.
The economic sanctions hit both Belarus’ exports to the EU, and EU exports of machinery to Belarus. The import ban significantly expands previous sanctions, and will now cover nearly 70 per cent of Belarus export to the EU, which accounted for 5.9 billion euros last year, an EU official said.
Among the sectors hit are wood, timber, steel and iron, which were not covered by previous sanctions, and cumulatively represent nearly 40 per cent of all Belarusian exports to the EU.