Belarus is being annexed by Russia and its government will face the same “massive” sanctions as Moscow should there be an invasion of Ukraine from its territory, the EU’s foreign affairs chief has said.
Speaking at the end of a tense 10-hour meeting of the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers, Josep Borrell said the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, was allowing his country to become a Russian satellite state.
The lack of transparency from Minsk over Russian troop deployments on Belarusian territory left the EU without any choice but to treat it as being complicit in the aggression against Ukraine, Borrell said.
“I want to repeat once again that any further aggression against Ukraine will have a strong answer from the European Union,” he told reporters in Brussels. “But I want to add that this will also apply to Belarus should an attack be conducted from each territory with its involvement.
“Belarus is being dragged into the crisis. It is losing its sovereignty. With a non-transparent deployment of Russian forces, Belarus is losing its nuclear neutrality. It is in the process of satellisation with respect to Russia.”
Russian troops were due to leave Belarus on Sunday following their planned joint exercises with the Belarusian armed forces, but the country’s defence minister announced over the weekend that the 30,000 soldiers would remain indefinitely.
Lithuania’s foreign affairs minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said the Belarusian armed forces were no longer acting purely on orders coming from Minsk.
He said: “Belarusian troops are receiving their commands now more and more from the Russian political decision-makers … and that means that there’s low, very low, levels of independence in the Belarusian army.”
Borrell said ministers had been closely watching the televised Russian security council at which Vladimir Putin had discussed recognition of the independence of the eastern Ukrainian territories of Donetsk and Luhansk. There remain differences of opinion among the 27 member states on what level of sanctions will be imposed on Russia over the move.
But Borrell said he would table the full prepared package of punitive measures at an extraordinary meeting for ministers to decide, and that Russia should be warned that there would be a “strong and united” response.
He said: “I will certainly put on the table the sanctions package that has been prepared. We have a package prepared … This package has certain components that can be implemented with certain degrees depending on the level of aggression.”
The developments in Moscow had radically changed the agenda of the EU ministers meeting, Borrell conceded, with hopes of a summit between Joe Biden and Putin dashed.
“At 9am in the morning we were still thinking of holding high-level meetings between President Putin and President Biden, diplomatic activities,” he said. “At the end of the day, the scenario is completely different because we are no longer talking about summits.”
The EU has threatened “severe costs and massive consequences” in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine. The package has yet to be made public, but it would involve a block on exports of key electrical components on which Russia is reliant, potentially an import ban on Russian oil and gas, and the freezing of assets of individuals and companies affiliated to the government in Moscow.
