U.S., EU to apply more sanctions pressure on Belarus ‘soon’

As a response to the migrant crisis created on the border with the EU by Belarus, the United States and the European Union will “soon” impose more economic pain on Minsk, a U.S. diplomat said.

U.S. Special Envoy to Belarus Julie Fisher said on 22 November that Belarus leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka “bears full responsibility” for the crisis that has left thousands of migrants from the Middle East stranded between the EU and Belarusian border and that action must be taken to change his behavior.

“The United States and the EU have both made it clear that more sanctions pressure is coming soon,” she said.

The United States and the EU accuse Lukashenka of funneling the migrants across the bloc’s borders to retaliate against sanctions imposed on his government over a brutal crackdown on the Belarus opposition following last year’s presidential election, which is widely considered to have been rigged.

Dirk Schuebel, the head of the delegation of the European Union to Belarus, told the conference that the migrant situation “remains very worrying and Minsk continues to escalate the tensions.”

He said the EU is coordinating with the United States on the next round of sanctions.

The bloc is expected to announce its fifth round of economic penalties against Belarus by December 2, according to EU officials. Those sanctions are expected to target about 30 individuals and entities.

Fisher did not say if the U.S. sanctions would be announced the same day.

Fisher and Schuebel rejected the idea that U.S. and EU sanctions are not having an impact on Belarus.

Schuebel told that conference that Belarusian officials and company representatives have fought the imposition of EU penalties — a sign, he says, that they are working.

Most migrants that travelled to Belarus are from conflict-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.