BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union on Wednesday agreed to ban exports of battlefield equipment and aviation parts to Belarus, expanding sanctions on the Kremlin ally for its involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Spain, the current holder of the EU’s rotating chairmanship, said in a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, the new sanctions were a response to “the situation in Belarus and the involvement of Belarus in the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
Lithuania’s EU ambassador, Arnoldas Pranckevicius, said in his post on X that the embargo covered “dual use battlefield and aviation goods”, as well as a blacklist of individuals.
The decision must still be finalised and will take effect if none of the bloc’s 27 member states raise last-minute objections by Friday.
A draft of the decision, which is dated June 24 and was seen by Reuters, named aircraft engines and their parts among exports under the new sanctions that extend to Belarus more of the trade curbs the EU has in place against Russia.
Introducing sanctions requires the approval of all 27 member countries, something that has been missing for a wider package of restrictions that would target Belarusian industry, as advocated for by hawks Poland and Lithuania.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gabriela Baczynska, additional reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
