The Council of the European Union has imposed sanctions on 25 additional individuals and 7 entities in Belarus responsible for undermining democracy, violating human rights, and supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to a press release published on the European Council’s website on 27 March.
The European Council reports that the new restrictive measures target the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Belarus, including its deputy chair, secretary, and members. The CEC organized the 2025 presidential elections which the EU deemed “neither free nor fair” and were “conducted in a climate of repression and human rights violations,” violating Belarus’s OSCE commitments.
Among those sanctioned is Aleh Ramanaŭ, the Chair of the largest political party holding the majority of seats in the Belarusian parliament. The sanctions also target nine judges who, according to the European Council, have issued politically motivated sentences against citizens who protested against the Lukashenka regime or voiced dissent, “thereby participating in the repression of civil society and democratic opposition.”
Furthermore, the EU has imposed restrictive measures on notable members of the President Property Management Directorate, a Belarusian government body directly subordinated to Lukashenka, which the European Council describes as “generating revenue for the regime and profiting from it.”
Several companies and businessmen supporting the Lukashenka regime were also sanctioned, including Ridotto LLC, an online gambling company, and its majority shareholder Dzmitry Shvedka, as well as Belorusskiye Loterei, which runs the lottery business in Belarus, and its director Mikalai Dzenisenka.
The European Council reports that two companies active in Belarus’s military-industrial complex and their top managers were also designated: OJSC Planar and its CEO Sergey Avakov, Precise Electro-Mechanics Plant and its director Yuri Tchorny, as well as JSC Integral.
Lastly, the European Council imposed restrictive measures on Tsybulka-Bel LLC, an agro-company that allegedly “has coordinated with Belarusian authorities the deployment of inmates as forced laborers in direct violation of human rights.”
With this new round of sanctions, EU restrictive measures against Belarus now apply to 310 individuals and 46 entities in total. Those designated are subject to asset freezes, and EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to them. Natural persons are additionally subject to travel bans, preventing them from entering or transiting through EU territories.
“The EU stands with the people of Belarus and unwaveringly supports the Belarusian people’s quest for a free, democratic, sovereign and independent Belarus as part of a peaceful Europe,” the European Council stated.
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