European Union governments are set to sanction several sectors of Belarus’ economy including industries connected to the soil nutrient potash and petroleum, as well as 86 individuals and entities, as the bloc increases pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday will approve the measures targeting people and companies and discuss a separate package of economic sanctions which will be presented to EU leaders at a summit later this week.
The economic sanctions “will affect sectors of the Belarusian economy which are directly linked to exports,” Borrell told reporters on his way into the meeting. “Sanctions are a way of putting pressure on the government of Belarus, and these are going to hurt the economy of Belarus, heavily.”
The most significant of the economic sanctions could be the restrictions imposed on potash sales. The soil nutrient is one of Belarus’s major exports and the country’s only abundant mineral resource. Belarus increased its proceeds from potash fertilizer exports 18% in January-April to $834 million, according to the national statistical committee. Last year, potash shipments netted the country $2.4 billion.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told reporters that the economic sanctions will affect seven sectors, including phosphate potassium, finance, telecom surveillance technology, and a further strengthening of the arms embargo.
“We need to think about where it hurts the most, and that has to be surgical,” he said. “We want to hit the regime, not the people.”
Following the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk last month and the arrest of a journalist on board, the EU has already banned Belarusian carriers from flying over European airspace, as well as landing and taking off from the bloc’s airports.
The EU had previously sanctioned seven Belarusian entities and 88 individuals, including Lukashenko himself, and was working on adding more people to the list even before the detention of the journalist Raman Pratasevich. The additions to the list include judges, ministers and other lawmakers, air force and high-ranking law enforcement officers, business executives and companies supporting the regime.
