Since 2004 the European Union has imposed sanctions on the regime of Alexandr Lukschenko in Belarus.

But the measures that the heads of state and government agreed on in record time on Monday evening go well beyond the previous framework.

So the country is de facto cut off from air traffic to the west.

In addition, the EU foreign policy representative Josep Borrell was commissioned to prepare “targeted economic sanctions”.

This is directed against entire sectors of the economy and allows the Union to restrict trade in certain goods.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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    Such restrictions have existed since 2011 for arms deliveries and for the delivery of equipment that can be used for internal repression.

    New measures could now be directed against the energy and chemical industries, in which powerful state-owned companies operate whose income finances the regime.

    The United States submitted it at the end of April.

    They prohibited any transaction with nine companies.

    Belneftekhim, the state-owned oil and chemical company, is one of them.

    The country's largest industrial conglomerate produces oil and gas, operates pipelines, refineries and chemical plants.

    It generates a third of the country's industrial products and exports.

    Several subsidiaries are also on the American sanctions list: the Naftan refinery, the tire manufacturer Belshina and the fertilizer manufacturer Hrodna Azot.

    Europe did not want to wait for the ICAO to investigate

    The state-owned company Belaruskali, which covers around 20 percent of the global demand for potash fertilizers, is not listed but is also vital for the regime.

    This company exports its products through the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.

    Lithuanian politicians brought up the option on Monday to block Belarus transport routes on the ground - that would hit Belaruskali hard.

    Of course, in all decisions the EU has to weigh up whether they lead to undesirable side effects.

    On the one hand, this concerns the supply of the Belarusian population, who should not suffer from the sanctions.

    On the other hand, sanctioned companies could be forced to put themselves into Russian arms.

    The Kremlin and some oligarchs are said to have had their eye on Belaruskali and Hrodna Azot. However, following the US sanctions, it was also reported that Russian oil exporters stopped delivering to the Naftan refinery for fear of US punitive measures.

    The withdrawal of landing and overflight rights in the European Union is generally directed against "Belarusian airlines". Of course there is only one, namely Belavia. Belarus is effectively cut off from the West, since other states are following the example of the EU. The United Kingdom withdrew its overflight rights from Belavia on Tuesday. In the European Union, this requires a formal decision by the Council, i.e. the line ministers. The foreign ministers will meet informally in Lisbon on Wednesday and Thursday, they could initiate a decision by written procedure.

    During the deliberations in the European Council, Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen advocated a decisive and rapid response - with the backing of Berlin, Paris and the states that were affected by the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk on Sunday Greece and Lithuania, as well as Ireland as the seat of Ryanair.

    In a nightly press conference, the EU leaders emphasized the unprecedented nature of the incident and the danger to life and limb of the passengers on board the aircraft. Michel compared the intervention of an interceptor with "Russian Roulette". Von der Leyen said the Russian authorities had deliberately created an emergency by "hijacking" the plane. "That is why we can no longer rely on protection and security when flying through Belarusian airspace."

    With this she justified not only the request to all European airlines to avoid flights via Belarus, but also the withdrawal of landing and overflight rights.

    This corresponds to a legal position that the EU Commission had already presented in 2010.

    Accordingly, under the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, it is permissible to deprive a state of these rights if it cannot guarantee the safety of aviation over its territory - in extreme cases and as a last resort.

    Legal experts from the commission came to the conclusion on Monday that the forced landing met these criteria, which is why it was not necessary to await the requested investigation by the competent authority ICAO in Montreal.