Poland urges EU to sanction Belarus

Poland is calling for the immediate imposition of EU sanctions on Belarus, Poland's ambassador to the European Union has said.

"Without sanctions on Belarus, sanctions against Russia have no rational sense," Andrzej Sadoś told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday.

He added that the issue had been raised at an EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting.

"We had informed (the FAC - PAP) about the ongoing attack on our border, also with the nefarious use of minors and children. We told about the involvement of Belaruskali, a manufacturer of potash fertilizers, in... a system in which camps for illegally deported Ukrainian children are being created in Belarus," Sadoś reported.

Sadoś also said that he had told EU ministers about Poland extending restrictions to 365 representatives of the Belarusian authorities, as well as Belarusian and Russian entities.

"I think that the situation at the moment is so complex and so tense that everyone can see, including the Swedish presidency (of the Council of the European Union - PAP) and the European Commission, that there is no way to maintain this state of affairs any longer, that we are not adopting sanctions against Belarus, which is the largest a loophole in our sanctions system," Sadoś said.