EU punishes Belarus for flight incident over alleged violation of European Union news

The European Union has imposed heavy economic sanctions on Belarus in response to what the bloc called an “escalation of serious human rights violations,” including the arrest of Roman Protasevich.

Thursday’s sanctions target the economy, but they also want to hit President Alexander Lukashenko and his allies.

Protasevich, a journalist and activist, was arrested along with his girlfriend on May 23 after Belarusian flight controllers ordered a Ryanair plane to fly from Greece to Lithuania in Minsk.

Recent sanctions target industries such as potash, the common fertilizer component, tobacco and oil, and are much more stringent than measures imposed in the past.

“Trade in petroleum products, potassium chloride [potash], and the goods used to produce or manufacture tobacco products are limited, ”the EU said in a statement.

The sanctions include a ban on the sale of equipment and software that can be used to monitor Internet and telephone calls to Belarus.

Belarus will also have limited access to EU capital markets and payments by the European Investment Bank to the country’s public sector will be suspended.

The EU is stepping up pressure on Minsk

The EU has been gradually overturning sanctions in the disputed elections since Lukashenko won his sixth term last August.

The 27-nation bloc, which considers Lukashenko’s victory last year to be fraudulent, has taken a tougher line since the Ryanair incident, and the country’s alleged use of migrants and refugees to put pressure on neighboring Lithuania has provided a safe haven for Belarusian opposition figures. and is one of Lukashenko’s loudest criticisms.

Diplomats told Reuters news agency that the decision to impose harsher sanctions was taken at an extraordinary speed, reflecting the seriousness of the situation.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers imposed travel bans and asset freezes on 78 Belarusian officials and froze eight active “entities” that are typically companies, banks or associations.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the measures were aimed at “economic areas that are particularly important for Belarus and the regime’s revenue.”

There are a total of 166 people and 15 entities in Belarus under EU restrictive measures.

Since the May 23 flight scandal, the EU has banned flights from Belarusian territory by its airlines and expelled Belarusian carriers from its airspace.

The United States, the United Kingdom and Canada have also imposed sanctions on senior officials in Belarus.

‘Economic war’

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry said the measures would harm ordinary people and “limit the claim to economic war”. He warned that Minsk would be forced to take retaliatory measures that would harm companies in the west.

Belarus has been shaken by protests in the months leading up to Lukashenko’s re-election.

Authorities responded with a massive crackdown that arrested tens of thousands of people. Most opposition leaders have been jailed or forced to leave the country.

Since taking off the Ryanair flight from Minsk, Protasevich has paraded on state television, crying apologizing for his actions and praising Lukashenko.

His parents, members of the opposition and others in the West believe he was forced to speak out, saying there were signs that he was beaten by some.

In a separate development, the trial of Sergei Tikhanovsky, the prisoner of the Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, began on Thursday.

Tsikhanouskaya, who was arrested in May last year on charges of organizing a riot among others, wanted to run for president.

His trial is closed to the media.