he UK is banning imports of gold from Belarus in a brand new wave of sanctions aimed toward rising financial strain on the Kremlin-backed regime.
Web suppliers may even be pressured to limit entry in Britain to web sites spreading propaganda from the nation, the Authorities mentioned.
Bans can be positioned on the import of gold, cement, wooden and rubber – all sources of income for authoritarian chief Alexander Lukashenko’s regime – to the UK.
Our help for Ukraine will stay resolute for so long as it takes and the UK won’t hesitate to introduce additional measures in opposition to those that prop up Putin’s struggle
The UK Authorities can also be blocking exports from Britain to the nation of banknotes and equipment – alongside items, applied sciences and supplies that may very well be used to provide chemical and organic weapons.
The sanctions develop on measures launched final July to ban the import and export of products value round £60 million from Belarus.
Overseas Secretary James Cleverly mentioned: “This new package deal ratchets up the financial strain on Lukashenko and his regime which actively facilitates the Russian struggle effort and ignores Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“Our help for Ukraine will stay resolute for so long as it takes and the UK won’t hesitate to introduce additional measures in opposition to those that prop up Putin’s struggle.”
The Overseas, Commonwealth and Growth Workplace (FCDO) mentioned it might additionally introduce on-line measures which is able to “present the Authorities with the power to forestall designated Belarusian media corporations from spreading propaganda within the UK”.
Mr Lukashenko is an ally of Vladimir Putin, having for many years relied on subsidies from Moscow to maintain Belarus’s Soviet-style economic system afloat.
Russian help additionally helped the autocratic chief survive months of mass protests following the 2020 election that handed him a sixth time period in workplace in a vote the West says was rigged.
Final 12 months, Moscow used Belarusian territory as a springboard to ship troops and missiles into Ukraine.
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