OREANDA-NEWS. The European Union is starting to prepare a new, fifth package of sanctions against the regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. This was announced on Thursday, September 2, by Luc Devigne, Deputy Managing Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the EU Foreign Policy Service. He spoke at the hearings in the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament on the situation on the EU border with Belarus, DW correspondent reports.

«The recent actions of the Lukashenko regime, namely the instrumentalization of migrants by the state, are a blatant disregard for international norms. This will definitely not change our resolve and will definitely not help in lifting sanctions against Belarus, but quite the opposite», Devin said.

«We will continue to fight against this terrible instrumentalization of migrants and human suffering by the Lukashenko regime. This fight, of course, will include sanctions. Work on the fifth package begins now, together with the EU member states», the official added.

Earlier, the European Union imposed four packages of personal sanctions for the falsification of the presidential elections in Belarus on August 9, 2020 and for the subsequent suppression of protests. A total of 166 individuals, as well as 15 organizations and enterprises are on the sanctions list. In addition, after the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, the EU imposed economic sanctions against Belarus. In particular, they restrict the import of petroleum products and potash fertilizers.