Belarus Threatens To Halt EU Goods Transit In Retaliation For Sanctions

According to REUTERS, Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka has threatened to halt European Union goods transiting his country in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Brussels.

During a government meeting on July 6, Lukashenka likened the sanctions by the West, and the EU in particular, to a "war" and said Belarus could stop the transit of goods from the bloc headed eastward.

"First: not a step inside the Belarusian market; second: not a step through Belarus either," he told the meeting.

"Exactly the same should be done with the Germans. Let (them) supply their products to China and Russia through Finland. Or through Ukraine," he added.

The EU last month imposed sanctions on Belarus's main exports and cut the country off from financing to punish it for diverting a European flight in May in order to arrest an opposition journalist.

Rating agencies and analysts say the sanctions will leave Lukashenko largely unscathed and able to continue financing the economy and his security forces.

Lukashenko did not specify when transit could be blocked and which countries, beyond Germany, could be affected.

When asked about the potential transit block earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin said disruption to supply chains could not be ruled out and that serious work would be required to minimise such problems if they occurred.

Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko said his government would "look at the behaviour of our European partners" and take what he called appropriate measures that would not damage the Belarusian economy.