An EU diplomat stated that the EU agreed on Wednesday (June 16) to impose additional sanctions on Belarus in response to the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk and a dissident on board in May. The reporter was arrested.
The diplomat said that the sanctions have been approved by the EU ambassador and will be passed by the EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday, targeting seven individuals with ties to the Belarusian aviation industry.
The diplomat said that the EU ambassador also signed a fourth set of asset freezes and travel bans in response to last year’s controversial presidential election, which was imposed on more than 70 Belarusians.
When the Ryanair jet was forced to land in Minsk on May 23 and the opposition blogger Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend were arrested by the Belarusian authorities, the fourth set of measures was ready Ready.
European Union governments described the incident as a piracy and in early June banned Belarusian Airlines from flying over EU territory or entering its airports.
When discussing economic sanctions to impose real punishment on President Alexander Lukashenko, the latest list of seven is intended as a stopgap measure. They can target bond sales, the oil sector and potash, which is a major export product of Belarus.
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, argued that the reporter was planning a rebellion when he got off the plane, and he accused the West of launching a mixed war against him.
Since the violent suppression of democratic demonstrations after the controversial election results last year, he has withstood three rounds of EU sanctions and similar U.S. measures-mainly blacklists that prohibit officials from going to Europe and the United States or doing business in Europe and the United States.
