Canada, the United States, the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom on Thursday announced new economic sanctions against Belarus, accused of “repeated human rights violations” and of organizing the passage of migrants to the country. ‘EU.
“We again call on the Lukashenko regime to immediately and completely stop the organization of irregular migration across its borders with the EU”, underline the allies in a joint statement.
Minsk is accused of orchestrating the influx of migrants to its border with Poland in retaliation for Western sanctions previously put in place. These were taken after the repression of the Belarusian opposition denouncing the contested re-election of Alexander Lukashenko.
The new sanctions “demonstrate our unwavering determination to act in the face of a brutal regime that increasingly represses Belarusians, undermines peace and security in Europe, and continues to exploit people who seek only to live in freedom. “, Underlined in another press the head of the American diplomacy, Antony Blinken.
Belarus reacted by calling the new sanctions “absurd”.
“The depth of the absurdity” of this decision “begins to defy all logic,” said the Belarusian Foreign Ministry in a statement. Minsk will retaliate by taking “severe and asymmetrical measures, but adequate”, he warned.
Blacklist
The US Treasury has announced targeting 20 individuals and 12 organizations close to power, accused of “facilitating the passage […] migrants within the EU ”and for“ taking part in the ongoing repression against human rights and democracy ”.
For its part, Global Affairs Canada is adding 24 people and 7 more entities to its list of sanctions against Minsk. “The Belarusian regime must answer for its actions, which affect people inside and outside its borders. […] We will not allow the Lukashenko regime to continue to violate its international obligations with impunity. Human rights are not negotiable, ”Minister Mélanie Joly said in a press release.
The EU sanctions list was extended to 28 officials and entities, including the national airline Belavia. The 17 officials and 11 entities are added to the EU’s blacklist on Belarus, which already contains 166 names, including those of President Lukashenko and two of his sons, as well as 15 entities linked to the regime. The sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a ban on entry into the EU.
Newly targeted by Brussels, but also Washington, the state tourist company Tsentrkurort is accused of “playing a key role” in the organization of the passage of migrants to the EU.
The United Kingdom for its part announced to sanction eight additional individuals, as well as the state company Belaruskali, “one of the largest world producers of potash-based fertilizers”, according to London.
“These sanctions continue to target important sources of revenue for the Lukashenko regime,” British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said in a statement.
For Warsaw, “the strong EU sanctions” coincide with the “strong American sanctions”, and are due to “the human rights violations, the aggressive actions undertaken by Minsk, and the hybrid operation” at the border between the Poland and Belarus, said Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz on Twitter.
Barbed wire fence
The regime of Alexander Lukashenko denies being the instigator of the crisis which led to the deaths of at least a dozen people in the border area, according to Polish media.
According to the latest figures from the European Commission arrested at the end of November, nearly 8,000 migrants from Belarus arrived on EU territory in 2021: 4,285 in Lithuania, 3,255 in Poland and 426 in Latvia.
Brussels accuses Minsk of having organized these arrivals by issuing visas and bringing the arrivals to the borders of Poland and, to a lesser extent, of Lithuania, in revenge for the European sanctions against it. The situation has aroused fears in Europe of a large-scale migration crisis.
Thousands of people, mostly from Middle Eastern countries, are stuck at the border on the Belarusian side.
Poland, which has built a barbed wire fence and massed thousands of soldiers at its border, is criticized by NGOs for its policy of returning migrants to Belarus, many of whom find themselves stranded between the two countries, in very difficult conditions. difficult and in the cold.