Belarus

Brussels, Belgium, June 26, 2024 (AFP) - EU countries on Wednesday agreed new sanctions on Belarus over the Ukraine war to align them more closely with measures targeting Russia, in a bid to curb evasion of the penalties, officials said.

"EU Ambassadors agreed in principle on a new package of sanctions targeting Belarus," announced Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

"This package will strengthen our measures in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including combating circumvention of sanctions," it said.

The European Union has gone after the government of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the Kremlin's closest ally, for allowing his country to be used as a staging post for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bringing the sanctions on Belarus more into line with those on Moscow is seen as vital for stemming the flow to Russia of banned goods, such as microchips, that can be used on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Officials say Belarus has acted as a backdoor to get sanctioned products from the EU into Russia, as they could be officially exported to Belarus before heading on to its giant neighbour.

"Belarus must no longer serve as a route to circumvent our sanctions against Russia. With this package we increase the pressure on both countries and make our sanctions against Russia even more effective," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.

The push to strengthen the sanctions on Belarus, which is in a customs union with Russia, was stalled for over a year as efforts to relax restrictions on its lucrative fertiliser exports were blocked by Lithuania.

Some EU states argued that fertiliser exports should be allowed to help alleviate problems with food supplies in developing nations.

But the Baltic state argued that third countries had already moved to obtain supplies from elsewhere, and that removing restrictions on Belarus would see revenues worth billions of dollars flow to Belarusian authorities.

EU diplomats said no exemptions had been granted for fertiliser exports.

Before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU had already targeted Lukashenko's government with repeated rounds of sanctions over its crackdown on protests.

The 27-nation bloc has hit Russia with an unprecedented 14 packages of sanctions over its war on Ukraine.