The European Union (EU) is close to imposing new sanctions on Belarus against 30 individuals and organizations, including foreign ministers and Belavia, and these could be approved as early as next week, three EU diplomats said.
The new sanctions will target officials responsible for the Minsk hybrid operation with the mass deportation of illegal migrants to the bloc’s eastern states.
On Wednesday, the ambassadors of the 27 EU countries will agree that the concentration of illegal migrants in Belarus on the Polish border is a hybrid war, and this opinion will be the legal basis for strengthening sanctions.
EU countries are also considering extending the economic sanctions imposed on Belarus in July against the local reinsurance sector and BelarusRe, the country’s largest state-owned company, diplomats said.
Foreign Minister Vladimir McKay will be subject to sanctions because his ministry is accused of issuing Belarusian visas to non-EU citizens, notably Syrians and Iraqis, diplomats explained.
The EU has already banned Belavia from using EU airspace and airports when Belarus forced a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk in May so the regime could detain an opposition journalist.
Now, with direct sanctions on the airline, it will not be able to lease aircraft from Irish, Romanian and Danish companies.
It is true that the EU will continue to debate whether sanctions should be imposed only on new leases or on existing ones.
With the sanctions to be imposed this month, the total number of people frozen and barred from entering the EU will reach almost 200, and the number of organizations and companies subject to sanctions will exceed 20.
As part of an extensive hybrid attack on the regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, attempts have been made in recent months to send thousands of illegal immigrants from Belarus to Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, most of whom have arrived in Belarus as tourists from Iraq.
The EU has accused the Minsk regime of seeking to avenge support for the Belarusian opposition and of sanctions against Belarus in response to last year’s violent crackdown on protests.
NATO on Monday condemned Belarus for its tactical use of migrants to put pressure on the EU, saying the alliance was worried about escalating its border with Poland.
Hundreds of migrants from Belarus were reportedly tried to break into Polish territory on Monday. This was the first attempt by migrants to cross the Polish border en masse, and was repulsed.
On Tuesday evening, the Polish news agency PAP announced that two large groups of migrants had nevertheless managed to break into Poland from Belarus.
All illegal immigrants who have entered Polish territory have been detained, Polish Defense Minister Marjusz Blaschak said on Wednesday morning.
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