EU approves new sanctions on Belarus - What impact will they have? | DW News

00:00 New EU sanctions follow forced grounding of airliner The EU has approved new sanctions against Belarus — ratcheting up the pressure on its leader after the forced landing of a plane. The measures hit over 80 people and organizations with asset freezes and travel bans. The EU is also eyeing more wide-reaching sanctions that would target whole sectors of Belarus’ economy, including its tobacco industry — hurting major revenue sources for Alexander Lukashenko’s regime. 03:24 DW study: Have sanctions on Belarus had an impact on Lukashenko’s rule? A DW analysis — which used freedom of the press and freedom of speech among other parameters to measure Belarusian democracy — has found little positive change since they were introduced. The recent mass protests may have had some positive effect on democratic participation. But those gains have been short-lived with little sign that two decades of sanctions have encouraged democratic development in Belarus. 07:21 How Belarus