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The Baltic countries, members of the EU and NATO, have announced their sanctions in a coordinated effort to hold demonstrations in neighboring Belarus, which enters the fourth week of the August 9 presidential elections.
“We are sending a message that we have to do more than publish statements. We must also take concrete action,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told AFP.
In addition to Lukashenko, these national blacklists include 29 officials from the Election Commission, ministries and law enforcement agencies.
According to Linkevicius, these lists may be expanded in the near future.
His Estonian counterpart Urmas Reinsalu, for his part, said that the Baltic countries “show that we are attacking human rights violations in Belarus with the utmost seriousness.”
The European Union (EU) also intends to impose entry bans on its territory and block the assets of some 20 Belarusian officials, but this list must be approved by all 27 EU member states.
Some Western members of the EU believe that a sanction on Alexander Lukashenko could damage efforts aimed at dialogue between the authorities and the opposition and push the Belarusian president into the arms of Russia.
Formerly occupied by the Soviet Union, the Baltic countries are in the eurozone. Latvia and Lithuania have common borders with Belarus. Lithuania, which has taken over European diplomacy in the Belarus case, has given refuge to the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tihanovskaia.
Opponent arrested in Belarus
A representative of the Belarusian Opposition Coordinating Council, which aims to organize a transition to power, was arrested on Monday, her supporters said.
“The arrest (of Lilia Vlasova) was preceded by a search at her home,” Pavel Latuşko, a member of the Council’s governing body, who was the target of an investigation into a “moving” attack, told AFP. to national security ”.
Vlasova’s arrest was made by the powerful financial investigation department. She was cited by the police for participating in an “unauthorized” demonstration.
Lilia Vlasova, 67, is a recognized lawyer in the country, specialized in mediation.
A newcomer to politics, Vlasova said, has publicly joined the movement challenging the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko on August 9, which she considers fraudulent and has sparked an unprecedented wave of protests in the country.
Several members of the Council’s leadership had to appear at last week’s convocation to be questioned as witnesses about the organization’s activities.
Among them are the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature Svetlana Alexievich, Latuşko, former ambassador and Minister of Culture and one of the figures of the presidential election campaign, Maria Kolesnikova.
Two others, Sergei Dilevsky and Olga Kovalkova, were sentenced on 25 August to 10 days in detention in connection with one of Sunday’s unauthorized demonstrations involving some 100,000 people for three weeks.
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