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White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki described the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk and the arrest of Belarusian opposition journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich as a “direct violation of international standards”.
He also called for “a credible international investigation into the events of May 23”.
The authoritarian Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenko, strongly supported by Moscow, sparked international outrage by ordering on Sunday that a fighter jet be sent to take over a Ryanair liner from Athens to Vilnius that had the 26-year-old Pratasevic and her friend. Sofia Sapega, 23 years old. . They were arrested.
The White House has announced that it is working with the European Union on a list of specific sanctions against key members of the Lukashenko regime.
Meanwhile, economic sanctions against nine Belarusian state-owned companies, which Washington renewed in April for its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, will take effect on June 3.
America’s next steps toward Belarus could be directed at “those who support corruption, human rights abuses and attacks on democracy,” Psaki said.
The White House has also issued a warning to US citizens not to travel to Belarus and warned US airliners to “be very careful” if they are going to fly over Belarusian airspace.
The EU also called on EU airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin rejoiced over Moscow’s close ties with Minsk on Friday when he received Lukashenko at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Observers watched the talks closely to see how far the Kremlin would go in support of the Minsk regime, the Russian leader said he was “very pleased” to see Lukashenko and agreed with him that the Western reaction was a “fit. emotional”.
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