On August 9, 2024, the US, EU, UK and Canada released a joint statement announcing new sanctions against Belarus, referring to the fourth anniversary of fraudulent presidential elections in Belarus that resulted in Alexander Lukashenko remaining in power. These authorities cited Belarus’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and ongoing human rights abuses in Belarus as the motivations for the latest round of sanctions. Members of our global sanctions team in the US,…
On 29 June 2024, the EU adopted a new Belarus sanctions package by amending Council Regulation (EU) 765/2006 (the “EU Belarus Sanctions“), effective from 1 July 2024. The amending regulation can be found here. The new package increases the alignment of the EU Belarus Sanctions with the EU’s sanctions against Russia (including those contained in Regulation (EU) 833/2014 (the “EU Russia Sanctions“), as recently updated), in order to address the risk of circumvention. The new…
In addition to the new EU measures, on Thursday 8th June the UK announced additional sanctions against Belarus, which came into force on Friday 9th June. The press release announcing the restrictions is available here, and the amending legislation is here. The new restrictions are intended to restrict sources of revenue to Belarus, combat sanctions circumvention, and reduce the ability of Belarusian media organisations to spread propaganda in the UK. The key measures include: Many…
Effective as of 31 January 2023, Ukraine introduced a new set of personal sanctions against 182 Russian and Belarusian legal entities, mainly transport and leasing companies as well as chemical enterprises, and 3 individuals — citizens of the Russian Federation.[1] The sanctions package, according to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is aimed at companies involved in transporting Russian military equipment and soldiers. The Decision imposes extensive sanctions, including asset freeze; ban on trade operations;…