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In addition, the EU foreign ministers decided on Monday to extend the sanctions to Belarus. 78 people and eight companies were blacklisted, reported Rikardas Jozwiakas, a journalist for Radio Free Europe. The sanctions will be officially announced later on Monday.
The ministers meeting in Luxembourg supported broad measures against important sources of income for the authoritarian regime of Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko: exports of potash fertilizers, the tobacco industry, exports of oil and petroleum products and the financial sector, diplomats said. to AFP.
According to officials, these measures, including a ban on the sale of surveillance equipment and an arms embargo to Belarus, should be formally approved by the 27-nation bloc in the coming days.
The ministers also formally approved a decision to impose sanctions on 86 additional individuals and legal entities in Belarus. The list will be published in the official EU gazette later on Monday, but a diplomatic source told BNS that Lukashenko’s son, Dzmitras and marti Lilija, will be among the targets.
The issuance of EU visas will be prohibited to sanctions and their assets under community jurisdiction will be frozen.
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Aliaksandras Lukašenka
Seven of the new sanctions will be directly related to the landing of a Ryanair liner in Minsk. Others are being prosecuted for the regime’s large-scale crackdown on the opposition, diplomats said.
The Council approved the fourth EU targeted sanctions package against Belarus, which penalizes 78 individuals and 8 legal entities: judges, prosecutors, investigators involved or directly involved in electoral fraud, repression and torture and other human rights violations in Belarus, including the persecution of independent authorities. journalists and bloggers.
Sanctions have also been applied to university rectors who expelled students who protested against the regime, as well as people who financially support Lukashenko and his regime.
The sanctions list to be approved on Monday also includes 7 people and 1 company responsible for the interception and forced landing of a Ryanair plane on flight FR4978 in Minsk and the arrest of journalist Romanas Pratasevičius and his friend Sofia Sapega.
“We will continue to follow the path of sanctions against Lukashenko and his regime. We will not only impose sanctions on people, but now we will also impose sanctions on sectors,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said before the meeting.
“In this way we want to contribute to the depletion of the regime’s finances,” he added.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell previously said the sanctions should be finally adopted after a community summit later this week in Brussels.
“The sanctions are a way of putting pressure on the Belarusian government,” Borrell told reporters. “We are determined to have a very severe impact on the Belarusian economy.”
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevich welcomed the fourth package of sanctions against Belarus on Twitter, saying that it was not directed against the Belarusian people, but against “the dictator and his accomplices.”
“We will work on sectoral sanctions, our goal is the release of political prisoners, free and fair elections,” writes E. Rinkevičius.
Charles Michel, president of the European Council (EC), says on Twitter that the EU is “sending a strong signal of support to the people of Belarus” by imposing new sanctions.
“Our message to the regime cannot be misunderstood: release all political prisoners; end repression; initiate an inclusive national dialogue, ”writes Michel.
“It is not a silver bullet”
Lukashenko sparked international outrage by lifting the fighter on May 23 to take over a Ryanair liner flying from Greece to Lithuania.
When the plane landed in Minsk, Belarus arrested opposition blogger Romano Protasevich and his friend Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen studying in Vilnius.
Reuters / Photo by Scanpix / Novel Protasevich at a press conference of Belarusian officials
Last year, the EU imposed sanctions on 88 people, including Lukashenko and his son, for the brutal crackdown on protests in Belarus, which has been hit by major unrest since the August presidential elections. Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994, has been declared the winner, but the opposition and Western democracies believe the election was rigged.
Lukashenko, backed by Russia’s main ally Russia, has so far failed to pressure him.
Before the meeting, the EU ministers met with Sviatlana Cichanouskaya, a Belarusian opposition leader living in exile, and claimed that he had legitimately won last year’s elections.
“Sanctions are not a silver bullet, but they can help end violence and liberate [režimo kalinamus] people, ”Chichanouskaya wrote on Twitter.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Sviatlana Cichanouskaya
During his meeting with S. Chichanouskaya, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis expressed his strong support for the people of Belarus who are fighting for democratic change in their country. According to the minister, Belarusians should know that they will not be left alone, that the EU is ready to provide serious financial support for the transformation of a democratic Belarus.
“Europe must realize that Putin is really behind everything Lukashenko is doing. The Kremlin’s goal is obvious: to join Belarus.
Therefore, the EU must speak with one voice, whatever the future agreements between these regimes or changes to the Belarusian constitution, Europe will never recognize,
The Lithuanian head of diplomacy was satisfied that the EU was finalizing an agreement on EU sectoral sanctions and stressed the importance of preparing the legal basis for the introduction of sanctions as soon as possible and starting their practical implementation as soon as possible.
“We strongly support the fourth sanctions package, which was finally adopted today. We also attach particular importance to the sectoral sanctions agreement, which we look forward to this week. This is a sanction for the regime, not for the people of Belarus. The Kremlin is funding the Lukashenko’s debts and losses. Therefore, the price that the President of Belarus will pay will also be paid by V. Putin, “said the minister.
Arno Strumila / 15 minute photo / Gabrielius Landsbergis
Landsbergis also said that he would discuss the EU issue with his colleagues regarding the sharp increase in the flow of immigrants arriving in Lithuania through the Belarusian border in recent days. Most of these arrivals are Iraqis and Syrians.
Landsbergis accused the Belarusian authorities of deliberately directing immigrants to neighboring EU countries. According to him, Minsk is trying to counter Vilnius’s efforts to focus community pressure on the Belarusian regime.
He warned that the flow of arrivals could increase further when the new sanctions are adopted, and that Lithuania “may need help and support from other European countries as well.”
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