78 persons, 7 entities: EU envoys approve 4th sanctions package against Lukashenka regime
The permanent representatives of the European Union member countries have agreed on restrictive measures against Belarus in connection with the landing of the Ryanair commercial jet by the Lukashenka regime and the political crisis in the country.
“EU ambassadors have just approved the visa bans and asset freezes on 78 people and 7 entities responsible for the crackdown in Belarus and the forced take down of the Ryanair flight on 23 May,” Rikard Jozwiak, a Brussels-based reporter of RFE/RL, said on Twitter on Wednesday morning.
According to him, the details are expected to be in the EU official journal on June, 21.
As reported earlier, the leaders of the United States and European Union member countries issued a joint statement Towards A Renewed Transatlantic Partnership on the back of the summit held on June, 15. Among other things, it touched upon the situation in Belarus.
“We stand with the people of Belarus and their demands for human rights and democracy. We resolve to hold the Lukashenka regime to account for its escalating attacks on human rights and fundamental freedoms and for endangering aviation safety through the unprecedented and unacceptable forced diversion of an EU passenger airplane under false pretences, and the subsequent arrest of a journalist as part of a continuing assault on opposition voices and the freedom of the press,” they said in the statement.
On May 23, a Ryanair’s Boeing 737-8AS flying over Belarus was forced to land in Minsk by the local authorities claiming that they got the information about a bomb planted onboard. Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka personally gave the order; to ‘escort’ the passenger carrier, a MiG-29 fighter was scrambled. It should be noted that the plane was not far from the Belarusian-Lithuanian air border at that moment; it was at a distance of 90 km from Vilnius and about 200 km – from Minsk. Opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich and his companion, Russian citizen Sofia Sapega, were arrested by security services in the Belarusian capital city. The operation of forcibly landing the Ryanair airplane seems to have been deliberately planned and performed by pro-Lukashenka secret services.
In the wake of the controversial situation, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary slammed Belarusian officials, labelling the steps taken by them as ‘state-sponsored hijacking’. The outrageous incident has triggered a mighty international row. Politicians, diplomats, international organisations denounced the actions of the Lukashenka regime.
Last week, the European Parliament called on the EU to punish those involved in forcing the Ryanair plane to land in Minsk. In its resolution adopted with 626 votes in favour, 16 against and 36 abstentions, MEPs strongly condemned the grounding of the flight as an act of ‘state terrorism’, and call for Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, as well as all other political prisoners in Belarus, to be immediately and unconditionally released. The resolution urged the Council to sanction the Belarusian individuals and entities involved in the forced landing and the abductions ‘as soon as possible’. According to the document, EU member states must also proceed ‘with utmost urgency’ with the next package of sanctions against those who took part in or were complicit in electoral fraud last year and the subsequent human rights violations in Belarus.
belsat.eu
