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https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2022.046.01.0003.01.ENG&toc=OJ%3AL%3A2022%3A046%3ATOC

(Date of UN designation: 2021-06-21)

2022-02-25

EU

Restrictive measures in view of the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine

EU country specific

Belarus

Asset freeze and prohibition to make funds available, Restrictions on admission

- All assets of the listed persons and entities should be frozen. It is also prohibited to make any funds or assets directly or indirectly available to them. - Member States shall enforce travel restrictions on persons listed in the Annex of Council Decision 2012/642/CFSP.

The EU has imposed several successive rounds of individual and sectoral sanctions, against those responsible for internal repression and human rights abuses in Belarus, and in the context of Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The Council of the EU first adopted targeted restrictive measures against specific Belarusian officials on 24 September 2004, who were reported to be key actors in the unresolved disappearances of two opposition politicians. Additional listings were introduced following the 2006 and 2011 presidential elections. However, most of the measures were suspended by the Council in 2015 and later lifted, after Belarus released all of the political prisoners and in the context of improving EU-Belarus relations. In light of the fraudulent presidential elections that took place in August 2020 and the brutal crackdown by Belarusian security forces on the peaceful protesters, democratic opposition and journalists, the EU introduced several packages of listings, targeting both natural and legal persons. Following the unlawful forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk in May 2021, the Council subsequently prohibited any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers to take off from, land in or overfly the territory of the Union, as well as imposed further targeted economic sanctions including various trade and financial restrictions. In view of the situation at the EU border with Belarus and in order to respond to the instrumentalization of human beings carried out by the Belarus regime for political purposes, the Council broadened the listing criteria on 15 November 2021. In view of the Russian unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the involvement of Belarus in this aggression against Ukraine, since March 2022, the Council has adopted further sanctions. These include restrictions related to the trade of potassium chloride ('potash'), wood and cement products as well as iron and steel products . It is also prohibited to export to Belarus dual-use goods and technology, firearms and goods and technology in the aviation, space and defence industry. The Council has also imposed a ban on any Belarusian road transport operators. Furthermore, financial measures imposed by the Council include restrictions on access to Union capital markets in relation to the Belarusian Government as well as Belarusian state-owned financial institutions and entities, a SWIFT ban for four Belarusian banks, putting limits on financial inflows from Belarus to the EU; a prohibition on providing insurance and reinsurance to the Belarusian Government and Belarusian public bodies and agencies, as well as certain prohibitions on the European Investment Bank in relation to projects in the public sector. The close integration of the Russian and Belarusian economies has substantially facilitated the circumvention of existing sanctions. The EU therefore adopted a new set of sanctions against Belarus in June 2024, mirroring several of the measures already imposed on Russia to make EU sanctions more effective. The amendment notably extends the export ban on dual-use and advanced goods and technologies, includes further export and import restrictions, prohibition on provision on services and broadening of the road transport restrictions for Belarusian trailers or semi-trailers. The new package also introduce anti-circumvention measures, such as due diligence mechanisms and the so-called 'no re-export to Belarus clause'.