West fails to stifle Belarus, Russia with sanctions – Łukašenka

December 9, BPN. Western nations have failed to “stifle” Belarus and Russia with sanctions, Alaksandr Łukašenka has told a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) summit in Bishkek.

“We see that the collective West’s primitive production of thoughtless economic sanctions packages against Belarus and Russia is beginning to subside,” Łukašenka said, as quoted by his press office. “Our counterparts have already banned everything that can be banned and restricted, even to their own detriment. Now it’s time for them to understand and assess the consequences.”

In the West, Łukašenka added, the rhetoric of Belarus and Russia nearing economic collapse “has been replaced by sober judgments of observers, analysts and individual politicians” saying that sanctions caused even more harm to their initiators.

Minsk and Moscow “are realistically looking at things and do not expect that this pressure will weaken in the near future,” he continued.

“The most important thing is that we did not allow living standards of our citizens to fall,” Łukašenka said. “That was achieved, among other things, through our joint measures to counter external pressure and ensure the stability of the EAEU’s national economies.”

Over the past few years, democratic nations have imposed multiple restrictions on Belarus, mainly over allegations human rights violations. Sanctions were imposed in response to allegations of vote rigging in the 2020 presidential election, brutal crackdown on protests, the forced landing of a Ryanair flight, a migration crisis on the EU border, and Belarus’ support of Russia’s war in Ukraine.