The Czech EU presidency is considering sanctions against Belarus for its role in the Ukraine conflict
The prime minister, Petr Fiala, of the country exercising the current six-month presidency of the EU, declared on Tuesday on his return from Kyiv that the European Union could now sanction Belarus, Russia’s ally, for its role in the conflict in Ukraine, reports France Press. Belarus assures EU that it does not want to get directly involved in the war, but it has allowed the stationing of Russian soldiers on its territory, which Russia used as a logistical platform to invade Ukraine from the end of February.
“We are currently analyzing the role of Belarus and the potential need to target” this country, Petr Fiala told journalists on his return from Kyiv, where he visited Monday with his ministers for talks with their Ukrainian counterparts.
The Czech government had already announced on October 7 that a joint meeting with the Ukrainian executive would take place on October 31 in Kyiv.
“Some sanctions against Belarus have already been instituted, but we cannot accept that Belarus supports Russia’s policy or that Russia evades the impact of sanctions through countries like Belarus,” added Fiala.
The EU has imposed eight packages of sanctions mainly targeting Russian industry and individuals since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Russia must be ‘more and more isolated’, Fiala believes. “We know that sanctions work, we can see that from many data and we must continue without a doubt,” he added.
“We must be aware that the attacks against Ukraine are carried out from the airspace of Belarus and that Belarus supplies Russia with weapons”, insisted the Czech Foreign Minister, Jan Lipavsky.
Minsk and Moscow announced a joint military force in October, and the Ukrainian military expresses fears about the “growing threat” of a new Russian offensive from Belarus, its northern neighbor. According to the Ministry of Defense in Minsk, “up to 9,000 Russian soldiers” and about 170 tanks are stationed in Belarus.
In addition, in its daily bulletin on the situation on the front in Ukraine, the British Ministry of Defense publishes on its Twitter account on Tuesday images dating from October 17 of two Russian MiG-31K interceptor aircraft (NATO Code: Foxhound) at the Maciulişci military airport in near Minsk, near which there is a container, which could be used to store Kinjal hypersonic missiles.
By Ovidiu Stanica
