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“First of all, I think the EU worked well shortly after the events of Sunday. I think the message sent by the Council (European Council – ELTA) was strong and precise. Now we have to discuss the specific sanctions, because there are still no an exact list. “I propose to adopt the fourth package of sanctions, which we have been discussing for some time, then we could start discussions on a possible list of new sanctions, the so-called fifth list of sanctions,” Landsbergis said at an informal meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the EU in Lisbon.
According to him, Europe should not see the Ryanair liner crash landing in Vilnius in Vilnius as a separate event, as the escalation in Belarus has already started since the presidential elections last August. For this reason, Mr Landsbergis called for a strategic assessment of the EU developments in Belarus.
“Europe tends to react, something happens abroad and we react, but I think we can be proactive, especially in the face of these events. We know what is happening in Belarus: Mr. Lukashenko is playing with Putin and helping Putin annex the country, so we must also send signals to Russia that annexation is not acceptable to Europe.
We do not recognize Mr. Lukashenko as a legitimate president. Now it seeks to amend the Constitution, which could potentially create a common state between Belarus and Russia. So what would you call it if that happened? If the illegitimate president unites two states and signs such a constitution, then, in my opinion, it is Crimea, only on a larger scale, “G. Landsbergis told reporters.
The Minister also called on EU countries to consider the possibility of sectoral economic sanctions against Belarus.
“Until now, we have not had the opportunity to discuss sector sanctions, not to companies or individual individuals, but to the sectors that help the regime the most.” We could talk about the oil sector, that could be one of the options, but that has not yet been discussed, that is, in my opinion, it is too early to talk about consensus.
We must definitely find sectors and companies that benefit the regime without harming the people. Remember that people themselves participated in the protests while working for companies, so we would not want to harm them or at least try to protect them as much as possible, ”Landsbergis said.
According to him, events such as the forced landing of a Ryanair plane help EU countries to understand that Belarus and other similar regimes pose a real threat.
“Therefore, we must be very firm so that it does not cause any thoughts to other dictators and to Lukashenko himself (to take similar actions in the future – ELTA),” Landsberg said.
ELTA recalls that a Ryanair liner that flew from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday was forcibly landed in Minsk after a false report about the alleged bomb. He was accompanied in Belarusian airspace by the Mig-29 fighter plane of the country’s air force.
The plane was piloted by a critic of the Belarusian regime, Raman Pratasevich, detained in Minsk.
Belarus President Aliaksandr Lukashenko said Wednesday that “attacks” against his country had crossed “red lines” after the crash landing of a Ryanair plane sparked international discontent. Lukashenko also said he was trying to “protect the people” by landing in Minsk. He also denied that the fighter had forced the plane to land.
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