Following the European Commission meeting on the same day announcing the implementation of targeted sanctions against natural and legal persons close to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, on Friday, October 2, 2020, Étienne Épron was the guest of the 24-hour news channel RT France to comment the international sanctions taken by the European Union against Belarus and the similar countermeasures announced by the Belarusian diplomatic authorities.

As a lawyer operating in business law, international taxation and Franco-Russian relations, Étienne Épron underlined the adoption of counter-sanctions by the Belarusian government.

He pointed out the fact that Belarus has been regularly subject to European sanctions since 2006, and outlined the likely lack of effectiveness of this new set of sanctions.

Last but not least, he relativized the impact of the counter-sanctions announced against the European Union in the light of the weakness of economic exchanges between this Eastern European country and the European Member States. These sanctions are likely to have limited consequences compared to those adopted by Russia in 2014, which have harmed the European agricultural sector.

His intervention is available here.

Étienne Épron was also the guest of the France 24 morning show of 17 April 2020 in order to discuss international sanctions in the context of the Coronavirus crisis (intervention available here) and on the morning show of 24 October 2018 to give an overview of international sanctions, in particular those affecting the Russian federation (intervention available here).