EU authorities wanted to prohibit the import of certain Belarusian goods, in particular, petroleum products and fertilizers, writes Kommersant.
Such a measure is considered by Brussels as a possible response to the actions of Minsk on the interception and landing at the National Airport of the Irish Airline Ryanair, which followed Athens to Vilnius. On his board was the founder of the opposition telegram channel NEXTA Roman Protasevich, who was accused of extremism in Belarus. After landing due to the allegedly received signal about the bomb laid in the plane, it was detained.
The initiator of new restrictions was given Lithuania, called upon the remaining EU countries to support the proposed package of sanctions. Currently, the European Union is the second after Russia by the trade partner of Belarus in terms of transactions. In 2020, it reached $ 5.5 billion. 20 percent of the revenues of the Belarusian budget fall on the export of petroleum products in the EU.
The Belarusian oil refining industry has already encountered external restrictions. The sanctions against the oil refining plant “Naftan” introduced the United States. As a result of delivery, Russian companies have been reduced to it, afraid to fall under the secondary restrictions.
In the opinion of the surveyed elaboration, Belarus, in case of imposing sanctions, can establish export deliveries to Europe through Russia or find alternative sales markets. The last script is most likely for Kalia, which Minsk is already selling in Brazil, China and India.