Belarus vows tough response to new sanctions from west

Foreign ministry says US, UK and others trying to economically strangle' Belarus

Belarus has threatened to retaliate after the US, UK and other western countries introduced a new round of sanctions over its government's human rights abuses and the orchestration of a migration crisis on the border with Europe.

The goal of this entire policy is to economically strangle Belarus," the Belarusian foreign ministry said on Friday, while the country's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, called the pressure unprecedented".