On Wednesday, the EU states adopted the toughest package of sanctions against Belarus to date, to punish the country for supporting the Russian war against Ukraine.

The new measures significantly expand the existing ban on imports from the country and now cover 70 percent of imports, which were worth 5.9 billion euros last year, according to an EU official.

In addition, the country is subject to the same restrictions on the export of high-tech goods and goods that can be used for military purposes as Russia was recently.

The list of people sanctioned for supporting the war against Ukraine has been expanded to include 22 people from the Belarusian military leadership.

Thomas Gutschker

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

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So-called sectoral economic sanctions restricting imports from Belarus were first imposed in June 2021 but proved ineffective.

In fact, trade between Belarus and the European Union increased by EUR 2.4 billion last year.

The EU remained the second largest trading partner of Alexandr Lukashenko's regime after Russia.

There were two reasons for this.

For one thing, the Member States had only banned a small proportion of imports;

for potash it was only a fifth of the products.

This will now be expanded to 100 percent, the official said.

In addition, imports of raw and processed wood, cement, iron, steel and tires are now also restricted.

On the other hand, according to the June package, previously concluded contracts could continue to be fulfilled.

Since these are often long-term, there were hardly any effects.

A much stricter regulation now applies: All existing contracts must be terminated within three months.

This is likely to lead to a rapid and noticeable slump in imports from Belarus.

The main purpose of restricting EU exports to Belarus is to prevent restrictions against Russia being circumvented by bringing the products to the neighboring country.

They affect high-tech goods from areas such as electronics, telecommunications and laser technology, which Russia would need to modernize its economy.

The aim is to erode the country's industrial base, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

It is about weakening Russia economically.

Signs that Belarusian troops are involved

By extending these measures to Belarus, the EU is expressing that it no longer considers the country de facto sovereign.

This also applies to the increasing military ties between Minsk and Moscow.

The sanctions were justified by an EU official with the fact that Russian troops have invaded Ukraine from Belarus.

In addition, the change in the state constitution that was pushed through in a “referendum” has escalated the situation further, because Russian nuclear weapons and troops are now allowed to be permanently stationed in Belarus.

The official made it clear that they were "not yet at the end of the road" and that the option was open to punish the "increasing role of the Belarusian military" with further sanctions.

In the past few days there had been signs that Belarusian troops could advance into Ukraine themselves and take part in the war there.