The Belgian EU presidency announced on Wednesday that EU countries agree in principle on new punitive measures, targeting Belarus to strengthen existing sanctions on Russia.

The Belgian EU presidency said that the package would strengthen our measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and combat the circumvention of sanctions.

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has targeted the Russian economy, institutions and officials linked to the war with multiple rounds of sanctions.

As the invasion drags on, Russia has worked hard to circumvent the punitive measures, secure more resources for its military, and keep its economy running.

The EU diplomat said Russia and Belarus are in a customs union, and the new punitive measures on Minsk are meant to close “the biggest loophole” of the EU’s sanction regime.

Meanwhile, Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said to welcome the agreement.

Furthermore, Belarus is in long isolation since a crackdown on demonstrators protesting fraudulent elections in 2020.

This has been sanctioned before by the EU for supporting the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This also includes an EU export ban on firearms and aviation technology to Belarus and a prohibition on transactions with the Central Bank of Belarus.

Belgium chaired the talks as the current holder of the rotating EU presidency.

An agreement was reached among representatives of the EU countries in Brussels.

The new sanctions must now be finalised by national governments in a process known as written procedure.

Further details about the new measures will then be made public.

(Xinhua/NAN)