EU to Levy Sanctions on Lukashenka

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 12 October said they were ready to expand sanctions to take in Alexander Lukashenka. “A political agreement about the sanction list extension and taking in Alexander Lukashenka” was achieved.

Josep Borrell, European Commission Vice-President, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, explained that the sanctions against Lukashenka would be imposed due to the lack of will to negotiate a peaceful solution over the situation in Belarus.

“On Sunday, we saw an incommensurate reaction against protesters again. The Belarusian authorities took no steps to participate in any negotiations, disagreed to accept the OSCE mission. The group of countries proposed a new list of names, which included Alexander Lukashenka. And all the member states agreed with this proposal,” said Borrell.

To recap, the EU summit agreed on the sanctions list of 40 Belarusian officials earlier this month for falsifying the 9 August presidential election results and repression of protesters. The majority of the officials on the list were law enforcement officers. Lukashenka was not on this list because of his pending response to the OSCE’s proposal to mediate a dialogue with the opposition.

Natalia Tolub