{"id":149048,"date":"2025-07-31T14:09:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149048\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:10:49","slug":"lukasenka-shrugs-off-sanctions-instructs-diplomats-to-promote-exports-to-eu","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/149048\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka shrugs off sanctions, instructs diplomats to promote exports to EU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 31, Pozirk<\/em>.<\/strong> Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has urged Belarusian diplomats to ignore sanctions and \u201cother Western scare tactics” at today’s conference in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe strategy of ‘democratization through sanctions’ has failed,\u201d Pul Pervogo<\/em>, his press office’s unofficial Telegram channel, quoted him as saying. “You’ll see that competition among new concepts will soon begin. Sensible voices of those with whom you will work should sound there. We cannot leave the European market and simply turn our backs on the European Union under no circumstances. These are our neighbors and as you know, you can’t choose them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brussels has issued 18 packages of sanctions since 2020, yet the pace has slowed down, the Belarusian ruler noted, implying that sanctions may be harming the EU interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarus managed \u201cto provide people with jobs, income growth and hope for tomorrow despite the harshest economic pressure,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanctions and “crazy bans” cannot justify failures and a lack of results, he added, urging diplomats to promote Belarusian exports in other regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier today, Belarusian opposition leader \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja called for increased sanction pressure on Minsk at a high-level event in Helsinki.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU started introducing sanctions against Belarus in 2020, two years before Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, accusing its government of vote rigging and human rights abuses. The Belarusian defense sector was targeted later for supplying arms to Russia and circumventing Western sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU\u2019s 18th package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus, approved earlier this month, featured an arms imports ban, control over exports and restrictions on financial transactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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