On Monday, European Union foreign ministers unanimously agreed to impose sanctions on scores of officials and several organizations in Belarus. Additionally, they prepared a series of economic measures aimed at hitting President Alexander Lukashenko and his allies.
Since Mr. Lukashenko won his sixth term last August in elections, EU has maintained the elections to be fraudulent and thus have gradually intensified sanctions against Belarus. The measures have targeted people accused of electoral misconduct and responsibility for the police crackdown that followed.
But in an another specifically triggering event, when Belarus’ authorities had forced a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk last month, the EU had taken a harder approach to strike Belarus. The sanctions have also toughened, given country’s alleged use of migrants to pressure neighboring Lithuania, which has provided a safe-haven to Belarusian opposition figures and is one of Lukashenko’s most vocal critics.
The EU ministers-imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 78 Belarus officials. They additionally froze the assets of 8 “entities,” which are usually companies, banks, or associations. It is to be noted that this emphatically means that a total of 166 people and 15 entities are now under EU restrictive measures.
A statement stated that “This decision was made in view of the escalation of serious human rights violations in Belarus and the violent repression of civil society, democratic opposition and journalists,”.
As aforementioned, earlier this year Belarus’ authorities had forced Ryanair plane to land in Minsk, seven people and one entity were hit over the “forced and unlawful” landing of the Ryanair plane. The people were traveling from Greece to Lithuania when it was ordered to stop in Minsk, where authorities arrested Roman Pratasevich, a dissident journalist who was one of the passengers.
Witnessing such blatant audacity, the EU had banned Belarus airline companies from flying over the bloc’s territory or using its airports.
According to Borrell, at a summit on Thursday, the ministers will also prepare a raft of economic sanctions for EU leaders. He stated that “These are going to hurt, going to hurt the economy of Belarus heavily,”.
According to sources, the measures are likely to include action against the export of potash, which is a common fertilizer ingredient, tobacco industry exports and petroleum products, among others.
German foreign minister stated that “We will no longer just sanction individuals. We will now also impose sectoral sanctions — meaning that we will now get to work on the economic areas that are of particular significance for Belarus and for the regime’s income,”.
He further added that “We want to make very, very clear to Lukashenko that there is no going back,”.
Mr. Maas maintained that the 27 EU countries stand united and in solidarity on sanctions. He stated that “We are really very, very determined not to budge, not just today — nothing about this will change in the coming weeks and months,”.