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Belarus retaliates against Western sanctions with bans
Summary
A look back at the Belarusian countermeasures of early December 2021 and the border crisis behind them.
What did Minsk do when Western sanctions kept coming? By 10 December 2021, Belarus had already answered: on 6 December 2021 it banned airlines and imports of certain goods from the European Union and the United Kingdom, in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Western nations.
The crisis behind the ban
The measures belonged to the wider Belarus–European Union border crisis. From August 2021, the Belarusian government had sponsored an influx of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and North Africa, to the borders of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Belarus denied involvement. The European Union and independent observers viewed the influx as hybrid warfare, a response to the deterioration in relations after the 2020 presidential election and the 2020–2021 protests.
Between August and December 2021, tens of thousands of unauthorised crossing attempts were recorded, peaking in October.
What followed
The human cost continued through the winter. At least 20 migrants died in the months that followed, from harsh weather and abuse by border authorities. Attempted crossings fell sharply the next year but never returned to their pre-crisis levels. In spring 2024 numbers began rising again, though they stayed well below the 2021 peak.
A separate tragedy in Ukraine
Elsewhere in the region, Ukraine was dealing with a road accident reported on 7 December 2021. A minibus crash near Chernihiv killed 13 people and injured seven more.
