EU wants to check Belarusian officials' pockets?

New sanctions may have a painful impact on incomes of the Belarusian nomenclature, a political scientist Ales Lahvinets thinks.

The European Union is preparing new sanctions against the Belarusian administration. A Brussels newspaper Euobserver has informed about this. A political scientist Ales Lahvinets has called this step as a painful one for the official Minsk, in an interview to Euroradio.

 

Restrictive measures with regard to the enterprises ”Belnaftahim” and “Triple”, which are engaged in oil products export, are under discussion now. The sanctions will also concern “Beltechexport”, the exporter of weapons, and “Belkaliy”, which ships potassium fertilizers. According to the European officials, part of the incomes of these companies goes directly to Belarusian nomenclature.

 

Lahvinets notes, that the additional European sanctions concern just the firms which are connected with the authorities.

 

Lahvinets: "They are speaking about these very companies - "Triple", "Belnaftahim", and "Beltechexport". They are most likely to mention them in the decision which is expected in April – that personal bank accounts and other schemes of financing will be detected, and other financial procedures of these firms might be revealed, but this information has not been confirmed yet. In any case, the Belarusian authorities openly ignore and despise suggestions and calls of the EU to stop these demonstrative trials and to release political prisoners at last".

To the expert’s opinion, new sanctions will be stricter than the previous ones. However, will the European pressure on the Belarusian regime be increased?

 

Lahvinets: "I would love the Belarusian authorities to understand that they must stop playing with fire and cease this campaign of terror against their own citizens. It is difficult to predict the further actions of the EU, but it will be a very determined and concrete signal to the Belarusian authorities".

 

Besides, the economic character of the new sanctions of the European Union makes them closer to the position of the U.S. in this regard.

 

Lahvinets: "A document like this reflects the U.S. position. It is known that the U.S. Senate will also discuss the text of the decision on Belarus in the near future. This decision will go to the direction of mutual coordination between the U.S. and the EU with regard to Belarus".

 

Let us remind you, the European politicians urged to stop political trials in Belarus many times for the last two months. They stated that the European Union might join the American economic sanctions in case the repressions were continued.

 

http://euroradio.by/en/node/12869

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