The European Council adopted new sanctions and further restrictive measures on Thursday in response to Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission said in a statement.
“The new measures create a closer alignment of EU sanctions targeting Russia and Belarus and will help to ensure that Russian sanctions cannot be circumvented through Belarus,” the council said.
“The measures expand the ban on exports to Belarus to a number of highly sensitive goods and technologies which contribute to Belarus’s military and technological enhancement,” it said. “The Council also imposes an additional export ban on firearms and ammunition, and on goods and technology suited for use in aviation and the space industry.”
The changes align the Belarus sanctions with those applied to Russia, according to the council.
“The EU stands united in its solidarity with Ukraine, and will continue to support Ukraine and its people together with its international partners, including through additional political, financial, military and humanitarian support for as long as necessary,” according to the statement.
The individual sanctions include penitentiary officials, who the European Council says are “responsible for the torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including political prisoners, prominent propagandists,” as well as judicial branch members “involved in prosecuting and sentencing democratic opponents, members of civil society and journalists.”
The entities targeted are state-owned enterprises that, according to the European Council, have “taken measures against employees or dismissed them for participating in peaceful protests and strikes.”
Some background: Poland said it will deploy more troops at the border with Belarus after it accused Minsk of violating its airspace, raising tensions between the NATO member and key Kremlin ally.
The move comes amid increased activity near a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, which troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving toward in an apparent attempt to increase pressure on NATO and EU members.
CNN’s Jessie Gretener contributed to this report.
