MINSK, December 3. /TASS/. The West’s further sanctions against Belarus will lead to closer integration and economic cooperation between Moscow and Minsk, State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev said on Friday.

"The response to these sanctions is closer consolidation between Russia and Belarus, more substantive and productive work on the implementation of the two presidents’ resolutions on economic integration," he said.

According to Mezentsev, the West’s economic sanctions "are geared to compromise the possibilities of Belarus’ national economy to cast doubts on the large-scale package of social assistance to people and support for families with children, which has been implemented in Belarus for years." "I am convinced that the current economic cooperation between the sides will make it possible to ensure the sustainability of the national economy of the brotherly country," he said. "Naturally, we must speak about the formation of common production chains, the avoidance of unnecessary competition in the production sector. We must study possibilities for our joint products on new markets."

The European Union enforced the fifth package of anti-Belarusian sanctions on December 2. The sanctions cover 17 individuals and 11 organizations. The US Department of the Treasury also imposed restrictions on Belarus’ public debt securities and banned operations with the country’s new promissory notes with a maturity of more than 90 days issued after December 2. Apart from that, 20 individuals, 12 legal entities and three aircraft were backlisted in connection with the migration crisis and in the light of allegations about the clampdown on civil freedoms. The United Kingdom and Canada also announced extra sanctions against Belarus.

Meanwhile, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said at a meeting of the OSCE top diplomats that his country was being punished with sanctions because it has demonstrated "the dark side of European democracy."