Fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products from the European Union, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom will now be prohibited from import.
Le Monde with AFP
The Belarus announced, Tuesday, December 7, to ban imports of food from several Western countries, in retaliation to new economic sanctions taken against Minsk, which is accused of feeding a vast migration crisis at the Polono-Belarusian border in delivering visas to refugees and by transporting them.
A series of food products, including fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products from the European Union (EU), Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries Europeans will now be forbidden import.
“Retaining measures have been taken taking into account the permanent attempts of the West collectively to exercise illegal pressure with sanctions against our country”, writes the Belarusian government in a statement. The embargo will start the 1 January 2022 and will be in place for six months, he said.
Always according to the government, Belarus, an agricultural country, imported more than $ 530 million from these products in the first ten months of 2021.
Lourdes Western penalties
Some goods, such as baby foods, will not be concerned, said the government, so as not to undermine the “interests” of Belarusses. “Importers, manufacturers and distributors will apply to replace products that are not manufactured in Belarus by goods from Friends”, added the authorities.
Since repression of the opposition denouncing the contested re-election of President Alexander Loukachenko in 2020, Westerners punished Minsk by imposing heavy sanctions against companies and plan managers.
Last week, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Canada further expanded these sanctions to protest the recent border migration crisis between Belarus and the EU. Minsk is accused of encouraging thousands of migrants from the Middle East to get illegally in the EU – including Poland, but also by Lithuania – to destabilize it. Alexander Loukachenko firmly denies and received the support of Moscow, his main ally.
Since 2014, Russia has itself ceased to import Western food products to protest the Western penalties taken after the annexation by Moscow of the Crimean Ukrainian Peninsula.