Politics New EU sanctions against Russia's partner Belarus in force
New EU sanctions are in place against Russia's partner country Belarus. The punitive measures are a reaction to Russia's support for the war of aggression against Ukraine.
01.07.2024, 16:42
SDA
They stipulate that certain industrial and luxury goods may no longer be exported to Belarus in future. There are also new import bans on gold, diamonds, helium, coal and crude oil, among other things.
On the one hand, the new EU regulation is intended to prevent existing sanctions against Russia being circumvented via Belarus. On the other hand, it is intended to show the country's ruler Alexander Lukashenko that his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin also has direct negative consequences.
German government puts the brakes on car sanctions
There had been months of discussion about the new sanctions package against Belarus. Germany and several other exporting countries succeeded in weakening the original plans. As the news agency DPA learned from diplomats, there was no agreement on a comprehensive EU export ban on vehicles, in particular due to German resistance. Only those that can also be used for military purposes may no longer be exported to Belarus. France and Italy had also demanded improvements: for example, luxury leather goods, perfumes and wines are not affected by the export bans.
By contrast, Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Baltic states in particular had insisted that the same economic sanctions be imposed on Belarus as on Russia. In addition to Belarusian support for Moscow, the reason given was that Russia and Belarus are linked by a customs union and goods can flow freely from one country to the other.
Statistics were cited with regard to the car market, for example. According to these, the export of vehicles from the EU to Belarus increased significantly after an export ban was imposed on Russia. This was not due to a greater interest in EU vehicles in Belarus, but rather to the circumvention of sanctions, it was said.
"No Belarus" clause
In addition to the trade restrictions, the new sanctions package now also includes a ban on providing certain services to clients from Belarus. This affects, for example, architectural and engineering services, as well as IT and legal advice, advertising and technical inspection services.
