Lukashenko - in the most difficult situation in history: EU sanctions, Putin’s pressure, and also a smoldering protest in Belarus itself. How will he try to sit now?

On June 24, the European Union imposed sanctions against Belarus, they affected the potassium and oil industries. The export of products of these markets will be limited to the EU. The country was also forbidden to supply goods that are necessary for the production or processing of tobacco products.

Belarusians limited access to capital markets, and the European Investment Bank stopped payments to state projects and contracts with the authorities for technical assistance.

The Russian BBC Service notes that last year the volume of Belarusian exports of goods and services in the EU amounted to almost seven billion dollars, or slightly less than 12 percent of the country's GDP. Thus, Europe is the second trading partner for Belarus after the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union. The export of potassium to the EU countries last year amounted to only 10 percent, the main sales markets - Brazil, India and China.

In addition to economic sanctions, Europe has expanded the sanctions list of persons who support President Alexander Lukashenko or benefit from cooperation with the regime. It included 78 people and eight organizations, including the Russian billionaire, the head of the Safmar group Mikhail Gutseriev . He owns a non -zhinsky mining and processing plant, as well as gas stations, a hotel, a business center and the airport terminal in Minsk.

Earlier, the United States imposed sanctions against press secretary Lukashenko Natalia Aismont , the head of the KGB Ivan Teretel and Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Kochanova. Restrictive measures also operate against the Belarusian KGB, the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Center for the insulation of offenders in the surroundings in Minsk.

The sanctions were introduced after the coercive landing of the Ryanair aircraft at the Minsk airport, which was due to which the former editor-in-chief of the NEXTA telegram channel Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofya Sapega were detained. They spent a month in jail, but after the imposition of sanctions it became known that they were transferred under house arrest.

In the new episode of the podcast “What happened” we say with the Belarusian political analyst Artem Schreibman.

• How will the story of Protasevich and Sapieha end?
• What will be the fate of the political rivals of Alexander Lukashenko - failed presidential candidates Viktor Babariko and Sergey Tikhanovsky, as well as activist Maria Kolesnikova?
• How did the sanctions affect and still affect the regime in Belarus?
• And what about the departure of Alexander Lukashenko (he seemed to be going)?

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Presenter - Vladislav Gorin

Editor - Natalia Kondrashova

Installation - Dmitry Bodrov

Music - Victor Davydov