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The Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting with Russian government officials in Minsk on December 2nd
Photo: Nikolai Petrov / imago images / ITAR-TASS
The European Union (EU) has imposed new sanctions in the refugee conflict with Belarus.
Now the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko has ordered the development of countermeasures.
The Belarusian government should deal with this issue "in a fundamental way, without dawdling and clearly," said Lukashenko at a meeting on the country's economic development, according to the state news agency Belta.
Belarus is not under the pressure of sanctions for the first time and has already set up a crisis team, he said.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced that it would take "tough, asymmetrical, but appropriate measures" against Europe in return.
Strike against smugglers
The EU put new sanctions into force on Thursday evening, which are officially directed against those involved in the smuggling of migrants.
Eleven companies are on the EU's sanctions list, including the Belarusian airline Belavia and the Syrian charter company Cham Wings, as well as hotels and tour operators.
Your assets in the EU are now frozen, 17 high-ranking political leaders in Belarus are also being banned from entering the country.
Brussels accuses Belarus of deliberately bringing people into the country from crisis areas and then pushing them to the borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Thousands of people have been waiting there for weeks and are hoping to continue their journey to Europe.
Minsk rejects the allegations.
The USA, Canada and Great Britain also decided on new punitive measures on Thursday, including against government officials and organizations.
Those affected "enabled the regime to smuggle migrants into the European Union (EU), participated in the ongoing suppression of human rights and democracy, and supported the regime financially," said the US Department.
The EU had also already imposed sanctions in the past because of the controversial Belarusian presidential election last year.
mrc / dpa