Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian journalists wrote about the fact that Minsk is trying to circumvent sanctions on the export of wood to the EU in a joint investigation.

According to published information, Belarusian companies evaded sanctions thanks to fake documents, and papers from Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were used to export prohibited products.

, also stated about the Belarusian regime's attempts to circumvent sanctions

:

"Since the entry into force of the sanctions against timber from Belarus, 80 consignments of questionable or unauthorized supplies have been detained.

In 44 cases, the collected evidence was sent to the district prosecutor's office to initiate cases of violation of sanctions," said Zborashchuk, quoted by the Polish publication Rzeczpospolita.

Deputy of the Polish Sejm,

, believes that most likely this is only a small part of all deliveries.

According to her, the sanctions imposed on Belarusian wood do not really prevent it from moving across the Polish border.

"There is so much evidence that Belarus is evading sanctions that the situation requires a tough reaction from the Polish authorities.

The fact that the tree will have a label of another country, not Belarus, does not mean that the money will not go to Lukashenka's regime."

Sanctions against Belarus for supporting the Russian war in Ukraine

Alexander Lukashenko admitted that rockets were fired at Ukrainian territory from Belarus.

At the same time, Belarusian soldiers were not sent to Ukrainian territory.

In an interview with Svaboda, the US ambassador to Belarus, Julie Fisher, stated that "Lukashenka's regime is an accomplice of Russia's current invasion of Ukraine, as it allowed Russia to launch an attack from Belarusian territory."

On February 26, Canada and the Council of the European Union announced sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

20 Belarusian officials and military personnel were included in the list.

15 legal entities and 8 individuals were included in the US sanctions list.

On February 28, the ambassadors of the European Union introduced visa sanctions against 22 Belarusian high-ranking officials.

The Moladachan factory "MabelLine" went idle, because the Swedish company IKEA closed its business in the country.

IKEA closely cooperated with a number of other manufacturers and factories, including state ones.

Among them is the state-owned "Minsk Furniture Center" from Molodechno, the Mogilev textile manufacturer "Magateks", the Minsk watch factory "Luch" and others.

In March, the European Union banned the export of woodworking products produced in or exported from Belarus.

The Ministry of Forestry stated that it was forced to send products from Europe to Asia.

Due to the difficulties of doing business in the region, Booking.com and Airbnb are not operating in the country.

The Danish transport and logistics company Maersk announced the cessation of cargo transportation to Belarus on March 4.

When leaving the Belarusian market, other companies with a similar profile — DHL and FedEx — reported.

On March 5, the Finnish company OLVI announced the start of winding down its business in Belarus, where the company owns Lidzkaye Piva.

The plant's 840 employees will receive their salaries for the time being, the shutdown of business will be gradual.

On March 6, the Republic of Korea imposed sanctions.

They introduced export control measures for Belarus, believing that it "significantly contributes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

Japan introduced sanctions on March 8.

Assets of individuals and legal entities that have come under the new restrictions are frozen.

Deliveries of dual-purpose goods to Belarus and exports to the Ministry of Defense of Belarus and "Integral" are prohibited.

The World Bank stopped all programs in Belarus.

The bank noted that it has not approved new loans to Belarus since 2020.

Restrictions affected the sports industry.

Belarusian national teams of various ages have been suspended from participating in international tournaments in hockey, handball and basketball.

The Belarusian national team was not allowed to participate in the 2022 Paralympic Games.

The rating agency Fitch, taking into account the sanctions, lowered the long-term sovereign credit rating of Belarus to CCC, which means a real possibility of default.

The American financial company American Express has suspended the provision of services in the country.

No operations are now possible on her cards.

On March 9, the European Union approved the disconnection of three Belarusian banks from SWIFT.

These are Belagroprombank, Dobrabyt Bank and Development Bank.

On April 16, a complete ban on the crossing of the border with the European Union by cargo transport of Belarus and Russia was introduced.

In the decision of the European Union, which was published in the official journal, it is said that the European Union, in accordance with the imposed sanctions, prohibits the import and transit of goods by road transport from Belarus and Russia to the territory of the European Union.

On November 22, Canada expanded earlier sanctions.

The lists included an additional 22 Belarusian officials, as well as 16 Belarusian companies related to the military industry, engineering, the financial sector and railway transport.

Among the sanctioned persons were those responsible for the transportation of Russian soldiers and equipment used for the invasion of Ukraine.

Belarusian Alfa-Bank and MTBank were included in the list of companies that came under sanctions.

On January 28, 2023, the President of Ukraine implemented the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on sanctions against 185 legal entities and individuals that Russia uses to transport personnel and military equipment by rail.

The list included "Belaruskaliy", Gomel Chemical Plant, "Belarusian Railway", "Belintertrans", "Cargo Service-West", "Lyakofarba", "Belgazprombank", "PLM-Innovations", "Kronaspan OSB", "Bellesexport", "Trans-Agra Cooperation", "Real-Agent", "Promogroleasing", "ASBLeasing", "Transit-Auto-2003", "Isothermal Logistics", "Omsk-Karbon Mogilev" and others.