After the United States, Britain and other Western countries imposed a new round of sanctions against their governments for human rights violations, Belarus threatened to retaliate. Coordination of immigration crisis On the border with Europe.
“The goal of the entire policy is to stifle Belarus economically,” the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday, while the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, Calling this pressure “unprecedented.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it would take “tough, asymmetric but appropriate measures” in response. The officials did not say what these measures were.
Belarus has shown that it is ready to go to extremes in the ever-increasing diplomatic confrontation with Western countries.Lukashenko is accused of encouraging thousands of Middle Easterners to enter Europe through Belarus In retaliation for earlier sanctions related to his efforts to arrest and punish the domestic opposition.
As Belarus began to withdraw asylum seekers from the border, hundreds of people took flights to Iraq, and more than 1,000 people were placed in extremely poor logistics warehouses, the immigration crisis has eased.
Despite this, Poland reported 46 border crossing attempts on Friday, including so-called “violent” attempts near two border posts. The Belarusian army is accused of leading people to the border and undermining border defenses. The Polish army was accused of beating and torturing people who crossed the border.
Rights groups have Criticizing the European Commission After proposing to allow the three countries bordering Belarus to detain people in special asylum processing centers for up to 16 weeks, the current limit is 4 weeks.
Western governments have vowed to impose sanctions on Minsk, but the tough response to immigrants and refugees from countries bordering Belarus has exacerbated tensions in economic blocs.
EU sanctions target state-owned airline Belavia, Syrian airline Cham Wings, Minsk hotels and travel agencies, and target organizations that allow thousands of people from Iraq, Syria and other countries to move. Europe On a road called the “Belarusian Route”.
The European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada stated in a joint statement: “We once again demand that the Lukashenko regime immediately and completely stop its planning of irregular immigration at the border with the European Union.” “Those who cross the EU illegally in Belarus or a third country Those who facilitate the external borders should know that this comes at a huge price.”
In the fifth round of sanctions, the United Kingdom sanctioned eight Belarusian officials and frozen the assets of the state-owned potash company Belaruskali in order to “target the Lukashenko regime’s main source of income and foreign exchange.”
The United States blocked three aircraft against 20 individuals and 12 entities, and imposed restrictions on the holding of Belarusian sovereign debt for more than 90 days.
Economic sanctions also targeted state-owned tourism company Tsentrkurort, a freight company accused of transporting thousands of tons of ammunition and weapons to conflict areas such as Libya, as well as Belarusian defense and potash companies.
The United States also sanctioned Lukashenko’s second son, Dmitri.
