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After weeks of lockdown, EU sanctions against Belarus are in place. This was announced by the Council of States of the EU on Friday afternoon. The special EU summit had previously cleared the way for this step on Friday night. 40 supporters of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko are affected by the punitive measures. They are accused of participating in electoral fraud or violently suppressing peaceful protests.
Entry bans and property freezes were imposed on them. Lukashenko himself is initially not directly affected by the sanctions.
The EU wants to increase pressure on the leaders of Belarus and show solidarity with the people of the country. Since the presidential elections on August 9, there have been protests and strikes in the former Soviet republic against the authoritarian head of state Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years.
The sanctions went into effect because Cyprus abandoned its week-long veto at the EU summit. In return, the small EU country received concessions in its fight for tough policy from Turkey. In the conflict over natural gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean, the EU maintains its threats of sanctions against Ankara. Nonetheless, the EU offers Turkey the prospect of expanding the customs union, trade facilitation and more billions in aid for the care of refugees from countries like Syria. However, according to the summit resolution, the prerequisite is that “constructive efforts continue to put an end to illegal activities against Greece and Cyprus.”
Greece and Cyprus have long called for more support from EU partners due to Turkey’s gas exploration. They believe that they are made in their maritime areas and are therefore illegal. Turkey rejects the accusations.
After the controversial presidential election in Belarus, the United States also imposed sanctions against the country’s interior minister, among others. The Finance Ministry announced on Friday that it was about eight people.
Belarus, meanwhile, reacted vigorously to EU sanctions against dozens of senior officials in the ruling Lukashenko’s apparatus. As announced by the Foreign Ministry in Minsk on Friday, the answer is a list of names of people from the EU who are no longer allowed to enter. In addition, neighboring EU countries, Poland and Lithuania, have to withdraw dozens of employees from their embassies in Minsk.
Belarus is also reducing the number of employees in its own representations in EU countries. Furthermore, the ministry acted on her threat and canceled all accreditations of foreign correspondents with immediate effect.
The step was officially justified with a revised regulation on the issuance of work permits for journalists, so all previous articles are invalid and must now be reapplied. The Foreign Ministry had already openly threatened not to allow Western media to report from the country in the event of EU sanctions.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Anatoly Glas said in Minsk that Belarus would call its ambassadors from Poland and Lithuania back home for consultations for a week. The Polish and Lithuanian ambassadors were advised to also return to their home countries.
In addition, the respective foreign missions should drastically reduce their staff by October 9: for Poland to 18 of the 50 former employees and for Lithuania to 14 of the 25 former employees. The ministry in Belarus regretted the development and declared that it had to respond to the “hostile steps” of the EU in the interests of its own.
The EU sanctions came into effect on Friday after weeks of discussions. 40 supporters of the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko are affected by the punitive measures. They are accused of participating in the falsification of the presidential elections of August 9 or in the violent repression of peaceful protests. Entry bans and property freezes were imposed on them. Lukashenko himself is initially not directly affected by the sanctions.
Quelle: What / Dpa / Ag.
