EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on May 27 that the EU may adopt economic sanctions against Belarus for key exports, mainly targeting potash exports and natural gas shipments to Western Europe through its territory. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also issued a warning to Alexandre Loukachenko that his authoritarian-leaning regime would face a raft of sanctions if it did not begin releasing political prisoners, including the independent journalist and his companion recently arrested by crash-landing a passenger plane.
Speaking at an informal meeting of European foreign ministers in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, Borrelli said Belarus, a major exporter of potash, has almost all of its exports going to the Baltic states, which can easily be controlled, as well as the gas piped through Belarus to EU countries, whose transport pipelines can also be controlled. Belarus is a major exporter of potash: $2.5 billion,” he said. Everything goes through the Baltic states. If you really want to control it, it’s easy to do.” Borelli said, “We can also imagine that the gas that reaches Europe through Belarus still comes to Europe through another pipeline. Belarus would lose transit rights, and that cannot be ignored.”
German Foreign Minister Maas warned that if the Lukashenko regime does not change course, a new series of targeted sanctions against individuals and companies with close ties to it will be just the beginning of an economic and financial crackdown on the regime. “We will continue to watch what consequences (these sanctions) will have in Belarus and whether Lukashenko will give in,” Maas said the same day as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. “If not, we must assume that this will be just the beginning of a huge and long spiral of sanctions,” he said.
The EU already has sanctions in place against Lukashenko and senior officials of his regime, with travel bans and asset freezes. Masse said the new economic sanctions currently being prepared by the EU are designed to “deal a considerable blow to the economic structure and payment transactions of Belarus. The EU-27 leaders on Monday demanded the “immediate release” of independent journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapaga, who were detained by Lukashenko authorities in the crash landing of the airliner. Mas added that Minsk must go further and release hundreds of other political prisoners if it wants to avoid additional EU sanctions. The first sign we expect is that the more than 400 political prisoners there will be released,” Maas said. As long as this is not the case, the EU cannot relax when it comes to imposing new sanctions.”
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg noted that the EU “must also be careful that we do not hit the population of Belarus with sanctions.” He also warned that the EU’s restrictive measures should not “drive the country into the arms of Russia.” Ultimately, that is our goal, we want to bring Belarus closer to us, not push it away,” Shalemberg said. That is certainly the strategic challenge we are facing.” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, for his part, believes the EU must be prepared to accept that sanctions against Belarus may also entail costs and “a little sacrifice” for its own companies. I think it would be wrong in this case to put economic interests first again,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab wrote via Twitter, “We will use all the tools at our disposal to hold the Lukashenko regime to account and join the call for the immediate release of Protasevich and his companions.” In addition, Estonia announced Thursday that it has banned Belarusian flights from using its airspace. Poland, which shares a long border with Belarus, announced Wednesday that it had banned Belarusian flights from using its airspace. On the same day, a Belarusian passenger plane flying from Minsk to Barcelona was denied passage through French airspace and turned back. The same measures were taken by Britain and several other EU countries.
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