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Minsk vows tough response to new EU sanctions
MINSK. Dec 3 (Interfax) – The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has described a new package of sanctions imposed by the European Union on Belarus as an attempt to strangle its economy, vowing to prepare tough retaliatory measures.
"European officials have concocted some aggression coming from peaceful Belarus and have hypocritically delivered a sanctions blow despite common sense, despite the facts that have been presented, and despite ongoing technical consultations and additional measures being taken by the Belarusian side to contain illegal migration," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"The goal of this entire policy is to economically strangle Belarus and to complicate and to put a strain on the Belarusians’ life as much as possible," the ministry said.
The enterprises that have been added to the blacklist have nothing to do with the migrant crisis, it said.
"As the European Union pursues this policy, it is indifferent to the fact that tens of thousands of Belarusian citizens and members of their families, European consumers, suppliers, businesspeople, and companies will suffer as a result. Such ‘trifles’ do not matter to them at all when they want to play some geopolitical game and to satisfy the pragmatic business interests of certain European circles. This is the reason why Belarusian enterprises that are in no way related to the migrant crisis have been included in this list. What stands behind all this is the desire to get rid of competitors," the ministry said.
Sanctions have no prospects, the ministry said, announcing a readiness to take tough retaliatory measures.
"At the same time, as it was declared earlier, tough, asymmetric, but appropriate measures will be taken by us exclusively as a response," it said.
On Thursday, the EU announced its decision to impose sanctions on another 11 Belarusian entities, such as Belorusneft, Belshina, Grodno Azot, and the Separate Service of Active Operations, which is a special operations service of the Belarusian border forces. The new EU sanctions also apply to several Belarusian hotels, such as Tsentrkurort, the Minsk Hotel and the Planeta Hotel, owned by Oskartur LLC.
