As tensions between the West and the Kremlin escalate day by day, Russia and Belarus continue to evade sanctions imposed on them by the EU. The last “trick” is a triangulation implemented by Belarus via Gambia, via the Emirates, to purchase aircraft in defiance of the restrictions imposed by the European Union on Lukashenko's government for aiding Putin in the war against Ukraine. The EU can only take note.
Belarus buys Airbus planes through Magic Air
Polish MEP Mariusz Kaminski (ECR) speaks bluntly about “affront” in asking the European Commission for clarification on an operation that (the conditional is a must) would have in its sights Magic Air, Gambian airline, already managed by the Turkish airline Onur Air, which would have purchased three Airbus A330 aircraft, European-made, "most likely" on behalf of a company based in the United Arab Emirates, which would then forward the purchases to Minsk. The three Airbuses would be used by the Belarusian national airline. Belavia to strengthen connections with China and Southeast Asia.
The conditional disappears in the words of response to the question, because Mary Louis Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Services, admits: "We are aware" of the incident. She recalls that "the EU sanctions against Belarus prohibit EU operators from providing services, such as maintenance, and from making other economic resources available to the listed persons or entities, including Belavia." She then adds, and therefore admits, that "based on the reports available to the Commission, it appears that the sale was made outside the jurisdiction of the EU”.
So yes, Belarus would have circumvented the sanctions. But, Albuquerque assures, "if necessary, the Commission, together with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the EU, can propose new sanctionsThis includes imposing sanctions on new targets, such as those responsible for “circumventing” European restrictions.
Russia also bypasses gas restrictions
What the Polish MEP denounced is not that the latest circumvention of European restrictionsKaminski himself had reported Moscow's evasion of European sanctions on Russian gas, denouncing how the gas affected by the EU blockade was used by Russia to produce fertilizers which were then massively dumped on European markets and thus "the same billions of euros that previously fed the Russian budget through gas pipelines like the Nord Stream, now feed the Russian war budget through exports of fertilizers made with the same gas".
