DISINFO: Any EU sanctions against Belarus are illegitimate
SUMMARY
Any EU sanctions against Belarus are illegitimate. Unilateral sanctions by the West against sovereign states are unacceptable, illegitimate from the point of view of international law.
RESPONSE
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU's aggressive policy of sanctions, framing them as unjustified measures against Belarus.
EU sanctions are legimate restrictions imposed in accordance with international and European law. Through restrictive measures, the EU intervenes where appropriate to respond to emerging or current crises. EU sanctions are carefully targeted and designed to be proportionate to the objectives they seek to achieve.
The EU did not recognise the falsified results of the Belarusian Presidential election on 9 August 2020 or the new mandate claimed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. On 2 October 2020, the Council imposed the first round of restrictive measures over ongoing repression. The EU imposed two more rounds of restrictive measures against the Belarusian regime in 2020, followed by the fourth package of sanctions in view of the escalation of serious human rights violations and the forced landing of a Ryanair flight.
On 15 November 2021, the EU broadened the scope for sanctions to tackle hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants. The EU will now be able to target individuals and entities organising or contributing to activities by the Lukashenka regime that facilitate the illegal crossing of the EU's external borders. This came amid the growing instrumentalisation of migration by the Belarusian authorities.
Earlier, Europe Commission President von der Leyen has stated that the situation on the EU-Belarus border is "the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilise its democratic neighbours". Similarly, High Representative Borrell has highlighted that the Lukashenka regime is weaponising human beings as a tool for political purposes by giving to migrants false expectations and putting them in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
See similar cases claiming that the EU adopts sanctions against Belarus to manage its own internal contradictions, that Western sanctions are illegal and hostile actions, and that EU sanctions on Russia are absurd.