Sanctions intended as murder

Why the UN turns a blind eye on the West’s unpunished mockery of international law

Speaking at the 89th plenary meeting of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly the other day, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Valentin Rybakov proposed ‘to consider illegal unilateral sanctions not just economic terrorism, but acts of aggression with all the ensuing consequences’

From the depths of centuries to the present day

Sanctions doom thousands of people around the world to unbearable torment and, therefore, sometimes result in more dire consequences than open military aggression — it is at least possible to defend yourself from the latter. In contrast, how can you help children suffering unbearably and dying from sanctions-related lack of necessary medicine? Moreover, medicines are available literally in a neighbouring country but they cannot be obtained because supplies are prohibited by those who have, for some reason, decided that they have the right to do so. 
Sanctions pressure has long been a weapon that has been used uncontrollably and with impunity for decades against those who got into the sphere of interests of stronger political players, those who are not afraid to abandon the aggressively imposed ‘democracy and freedom’.
The idea of exerting economic pressure on the disobedient does not shine with novelty at all. The Megarian Decree adopted by the Athenian Empire against Megara in 433 BC is considered to be the first known example of economic sanctions. At that time, Megarian ships were forbidden to enter the ports of the Athenian Maritime Alliance, as a result of which Megara’s economy, which was entirely dependent on trade with Athens, was destroyed. Since then, sanctions have not changed much, except that the scale has become more global and the goals for their introduction have become more diverse. Thus, Cuba has been living under a US economic embargo for more than 60 years. However, despite all the obstacles, Cuban economy is growing, and a number of areas are developing very successfully. Another example is Iran, which also did not submit itself to the West and today is one of the leaders of the Arab world. 

Pressure format

The first sanctions against Belarus were imposed by the European Union on September 15th, 1997. At that time, the EU restricted the format of its relations and all political contacts with Minsk to below ministerial level in connection with far-fetched ‘human rights violations and election violations’. The sanctions have effectively frozen the main areas of co-operation between Minsk and Brussels. 
The reason for their introduction was the loud statements by ‘zmagary’ [Belarusian protesters] who were defeated in the 1994 presidential elections and did not want to accept the results of the referendums of 1995 and 1996.
Since then, the European Union has continued to exert pressure on Belarus with varying intensity. Restrictions imposed by individual states have been added to the EU sanctions over time. Moreover, attacks of such exacerbations in relation to our country, as a rule, coincide with the presidential elections in Belarus, the results of which predictably do not sit well with the Belarusian fugitive opposition.  
After a failed attempt to stage the ‘colour revolution’ in Belarus in 2020, the sanctions pressure on the country intensified. The European Union exacted revenge on our country for its unwillingness to fall under Western ‘democratisers’, backed by the cries of homebred rabble-rousers about the violation of their rights. The situation with sanctions against Belarus has worsened for supporting Russia.

Targeting people

Over the years of the EU’s pressure against Belarus, production and logistics chains have been partially disrupted, the capabilities of the banking system have been somewhat limited, and the delivery time of equipment and goods has increased. 

Despite the ‘humanitarian exemptions in sanctions regimes’ declared by the European Union, supplies of medical devices and high-tech equipment, medications and pharmaceutical substances to Belarus still got under the EU’s blow. Certain foreign manufacturers and suppliers have either completely stopped importing the above into our country, or simply could not fulfil the terms of the concluded contracts under the current conditions — due to logistical problems that have emerged because of sanctions, or due to sanction threats against foreign companies for co-operation with Belarus. 

In particular, this applies to endoprostheses of large joints made in Germany and the USA. Supplies of epilepsy treatment products from Poland, medications for Parkinson’s disease and various forms of cancer from Finland and even common painkillers from the UK have also stopped.
Of course, Belarus can produce a lot of products that fall under sanctions on its own, and we will produce even more under the import substitution programme in the near future. In this regard, much credit is due to the President of Belarus, who constantly focuses on the need to achieve technological sovereignty. The sanctions policy of the West and the Belarusian fugitive opposition exposes their duplicity. After all, there are people in Belarus, same as all over the world, who need very specific medicines and care products that are only manufactured by one or two companies. Thus, this is the case of people diagnosed with epidermolysis bullosa — a disease that makes people’s skin as fragile as butterfly’s wings. There are a little more than a hundred patients with this medical condition in Belarus, half of them are children. 
Epidermolysis bullosa is a rare genetic disorder characterised by extreme skin fragility, which causes blistering lesions and erosions on the skin and mucous membranes, and makes the skin peel off and leave an open slow-healing wound. It must be constantly covered with special bandages to protect from repeated damage and prevent infections. 
This disease cannot be completely cured but treatment can help to ease the symptoms. Proper care, which is directly related to high-quality materials for wound dressings and bandages, gives a chance to people suffering from this condition to live for decades. However, the manufacturer of the necessary dressing material has stopped working with Belarus. 
The company’s management did so out of fear it would be subjected to the sanctions, whereas butterfly syndrome patients experience unbearable pain from any touch in the absence of special dressings. It goes without saying that their problem is being tackled in our country. But is it acceptable that the geopolitical game of the West takes its toll on innocent people?

Belarus has coped

Here are just a few examples to illustrate the scope of activities undertaken by our country in order to overcome the negative consequences of sanctions. There has been organised the supply of endoprostheses from friendly countries to enable endoprosthetics of large joints. Belarusian enterprises have also joined in. Thus, the BNTU Polytechnic Science and Technology Park has already mastered the production of knee and hip joint endoprostheses. Six hundred domestically produced endoprosthetics kits have been purchased.
Medicines and care products that have been barred from import into Belarus have been replaced by analogues from Belarusian manufacturers. 
Spare parts for the repair of high-tech medical equipment are supplied to our country by China, Russia, Iran, Türkiye and others. At first glance, Belarus has coped. Yet, it required titanic efforts to protect Belarusians from the grin of democracy in the form of EU sanctions, which continue to strangle our country today.

Valentin Rybakov, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations, finished his speech at the plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly session in a harsh manner, “Those who come up with sanctions do not have a brain. Those who apply them do not have a heart. Those who justify sanctions have no conscience. Unfortunately, some people are missing all three.” 

One cannot disagree with this.

By Alena Krasovskaya