EU sanctions concerning Belarus extended for another year

The Council decided yesterday that the EU would prolong until 28 February 2022 the EU’s current sanctions in view of the violent crackdown on demonstrations following the election in Belarus last August, and today a CFSP Decision (2021/353), Implementing Regulation (2021/339), and two Notices on how to challenge inclusion on the list and data protection rights have been published to that effect.

The sanctions (a travel ban to the EU and asset freeze) are on 88 individuals and 7 entities, and target high-level officials ‘responsible for the violent repression and intimidation of peaceful demonstrators, members of the opposition and journalists in Belarus, as well as those responsible for electoral fraud’. The EU sanctions also targ