Zelenskyy signs new sanctions package, targeting Belarus-linked entities and Lukashenko’s sons

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a new Ukrainian sanctions package, specifically targeting entities linked to Belarus.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address on 29 April; Zelenskyy's decree

Quote: "I have signed another Ukrainian sanctions package – a significant one – targeting, in particular, entities in Belarus.

This is a signal to many of our partners about where pressure should be applied to reduce the scale and intensity of this war."

Details: Zelenskyy said Belarus must not be drawn into the war.

Quote: "Belarus must not be drawn into this war. There must be no operations against other European countries. And this Russia's war against Ukraine must end in a dignified peace."

Update: Later, the President's Office added that Zelenskyy has signed a decree enacting a decision by the National Security and Defence Council to impose sanctions on Belarusian companies and individuals close to self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

The sanctions list comprises 16 Belarusian citizens and 11 legal entities.

Ukraine has imposed sanctions on Belarusian companies that produce 122mm and 152mm artillery shells for Russian forces. These include Olsa, Minsk Thermoplast Plant and the Kovalskyi Heavy Forging Plant, which manufacture components for shells.

Sanctions have also been imposed on Republican Unitary Production Plant IK 9, which produces packaging for shells and the company NefteKhimDiagnostika, where ammunition is tested.

Restrictions have also been imposed on the Vitebsk Electrical Measuring Instruments Plant, which supplies equipment for repairing and upgrading Russian armoured vehicles and the company Radiotekhnika, which produces components for Russian military equipment.

In addition, Ukraine has imposed sanctions on a plant that repairs Russian aircraft, including the Tu, Yak and Il families of aircraft.

The individuals sanctioned include Viktor Sheiman, a close associate of Lukashenko, who has held senior government posts in Belarus for many years. He carries out Lukashenko's instructions, conducts interstate negotiations and establishes shadow business ties. He is implicated in the organisation of "death squads" that have killed opposition politicians, political activists and public persons. Sheiman is one of the organisers of schemes to evade sanctions imposed by Ukraine and its partner countries against Russian and Belarusian companies. Viktor Sheiman is subject to sanctions imposed by the US, the European Union, the UK, Switzerland and Canada.

Sanctions have also been imposed on Viktor and Dmitry Lukashenko, the sons of the self-proclaimed Belarusian president. They are involved in the export of products in circumvention of international sanctions, the supply of dual-use goods and their re-export through Belarus.

Background: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees enacting decisions of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine on sanctions against Russian entities involved in the abduction of Ukrainian children.

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