PMs of Lithuania and Latvia advocate pan-European sanctions against Lukashenka's regime
Since Estonia has decided to impose national sanctions against the official Minsk and stop the transit of Belarusian oil products, the prime ministers of Lithuania and Latvia emphasize that joint sanctions at the EU level would be the most effective and fair approach, Delfi writes.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said it would be most effective if the sanctions were imposed at the EU level and synchronized with the U.S. sanctions.
“Only then would it be possible to achieve the best effect and create as few conditions as possible for those looking for exceptions or some loopholes through which to circumvent sanctions, in which case the result would be the best and most effective,” she said.
Latvian Prime Minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš also believes that sanctions should be imposed EU-wide, although national sanctions will also be discussed.
“The most effective and fair approach is that we, the three Baltic states, have already proposed EU-wide sanctions, which would rule out the possibility of someone trying to circumvent sanctions of an individual country legally,” he stressed.
Last week, Estonia expanded sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime and prohibited the transit of Belarusian oil products. The sanctions were the investigation of Belsat TV journalists about the export miracle built by the Belarusian government on the transit of oil products with the customs code 2707, which did not fall under the EU sanctions and were previously quietly allowed in Estonia. Manipulations with commodity codes allowed the Lukashenka regime to increase supplies of Belarusian oil products through Estonia almost threefold in 2021.
