EU Imposes Sanctions For Transportation Of Migrants Through Belarus

The Belavia airline, among others, will fall under the sanctions.

On Thursday, December 2, new EU sanctions against those involved in carrying migrants to Belarus for their further transfer to the external borders of the European Union come into force. On December 1, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU member-states unanimously supported a package of related penalties, which must now be approved by the EU Council. The publication of the decision on sanctions in the EU's official magazine is scheduled for December 2, dw.com reports.

Seventeen people and 11 companies will fall under the sanctions. Belarusian state airline Belavia is also included in the sanctions list. It will no longer be able to use the aircraft, leased by European companies.

This measure is intended to prevent Belavia from carrying large numbers of people from crisis zones to Belarus for their further transfer to the EU countries. The Syrian airline Cham Wings, which also makes money from transporting migrants to Belarus, will also fall under sanctions.

Lukashenka-induced migrant crisis

For weeks, thousands of migrants have been trying to cross the border of Belarus and get into the EU. Brussels accuses Belarusian ruler Lukashenka of deliberately redirecting the flow of migrants from crisis regions to Minsk in order to then bring them into the EU in order to destabilize the situation in the West. The EU countries neighboring Belarus have built barbed wire fences on their eastern borders in order to stop migrants.

In recent days, the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border has stabilized to some extent. However, small groups of migrants still make attempts at night to break through barbed wire fences on the border into Poland. The Polish Border Guard reported that on the night of November 30, there were 134 attempts to cross the border illegally from Belarus.

According to the European Commission, almost eight thousand migrants have already crossed the border of Belarus into the European Union since the beginning of the year. Of them 4,300 entered Lithuania, 3,200 - Poland and over 400 - Latvia.