Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko on Friday, February 25, proposed to his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin to synchronize the approaches of Minsk and Moscow to “anti-sanction measures.” He stated this during the intergovernmental council of the EAEU in Kazakhstan.
“I would like to express my gratitude for the constructive and fraternal approach to solving complex issues. It would not be superfluous to synchronize our approaches to anti-sanction measures, ”the SB.BY portal quotes him as saying.
As Golovchenko stressed, despite the “continuous and intensifying illegitimate attacks” on both Belarus and Russia by Western countries, the level of trade between the countries is the best in the last nine years.
“The way we are responding to this is an example of successful partnerships and allies that are being tested and strengthened in a challenging environment,” he concluded.
The day before, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against Belarus. It is noted that a number of restrictive measures will affect two large state-owned banks. Belinvestbank and Dabrabyt bank fell under the restrictions. In addition, restrictive measures affected 24 individuals in Belarus.
Treasury sanctions usually mean freezing assets in US jurisdiction and a ban on transactions for US individuals and legal entities.
On the same day, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain and its allies are imposing “large-scale sanctions” against Russia and Belarus in connection with a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect the Donbass. Thus, Johnson indicated that the United Kingdom intends to freeze the assets of all major banks.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced that the West was restricting Russia’s ability to conduct hard currency transactions, thereby stopping the ability “to finance and develop the Russian military” and the Russian Federation’s ability to be part of the global economy. The American leader clarified that he had discussed the upcoming sanctions with partners in the G7 G7.
On the same day, Biden, following a meeting with the leaders of the G7 countries, said that the allies were ready to introduce a “crushing” package of sanctions against Russia.
Later, the US Treasury Department announced the introduction of restrictions against five Russian banks. As noted, the new sanctions “will further limit the Russian financial services sector and significantly reduce the ability of other critical Russian economic sectors to access global markets, attract investment and use the US dollar.”
On February 25, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced five points of measures against Russia, which were adopted by the European Union as deterrents. They affect the sphere of finance, energy, aviation, technology and visa operations.
Western sanctions followed in response to the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24 to conduct a special operation to protect the civilian population of Donbass. After that, Vladimir Zelensky accused Russia of hitting the country’s military infrastructure and introduced martial law throughout the country.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said that the army did not carry out air missile or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine. They stressed that nothing threatens the civilian population of the country. High-precision weapons destroy military infrastructure: military airfields, aviation, air defense facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Zelensky said that Kiev is breaking off diplomatic relations with Moscow and expelling its diplomats from the embassy.
The situation in Donbass escalated on February 17, 2022. In the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, heavy shelling by Ukrainian security forces was reported, including from heavy weapons. The republics announced a general mobilization and evacuation of civilians to the territory of Russia.
On February 21, the heads of the DPR and LPR Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik appealed to Vladimir Putin with a request to recognize the independence of the republics. The corresponding decrees were signed in the evening of the same day. In the presence of the leaders of the republics, the President of the Russian Federation also signed treaties of friendship, cooperation and assistance. The documents were ratified the next day by both the republics themselves and the Russian State Duma.
Since 2014, the Ukrainian authorities have been conducting a military operation against the inhabitants of Donbass, who refused to recognize the results of the coup d’état and the new government in Ukraine. At the same time, Kiev blames Moscow for the current situation. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
