The EU has published an additional list of Belarusian officials subject to sanctions.

It contains a total of 40 people whom the EU holds responsible for the manipulation of the August presidential elections and the repression of peaceful protesters. No sanctions have been imposed on President Aliaksandr Lukashenko himself.

The punitive measures will mainly apply to the Minister of the Interior Juras Karajevs, the Deputy Commander of the Internal Forces Juras Nazaranka, as well as the head of the Central Election Commission (CEC) Lidzija Jarmošynas.

Other persons sanctioned are the commanders of the OMON Minsk, Brest and Gomel anti-riot units, as well as other internal forces: the Deputy Minister of the Interior and the Chief of the Public Police, Aliaksandr Barsukov, other Deputy Ministers of the Interior, the Deputy Commander of the Internal Forces Chazalbek Atabekav, Special Forces SOB Commander Aliaksandras Bykavas, as well as Minsk Militia Commander Ivan Kubrakov.

Criminal measures will also be applied to various CRC officials and the vice-presidents of the State Security Committee, as well as the Head of the Criminal Execution Board of the Ministry of the Interior.

The EU’s decision on Friday to impose sanctions on dozens of members of the Lukashenko regime paves the way for travel bans and assets freezes.

The member states of the bloc had already decided in the summer to impose sanctions on the Minsk regime, but were blocked by Cyprus, which called for similar measures against Turkey, with which the country does not agree on the exploration of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean. EU leaders have managed to overcome these contradictions.

“The EU will continue to closely monitor developments in Belarus. The list of persons subject to sanctions will be kept under review and the EU is ready to introduce additional restrictive measures if the situation does not improve,” the bloc’s chief diplomat Joseph Joseph warned on Friday. Borrell.