EU agrees to sanction Lukashenko, impose Russia sanctions over Navalny poisoning
According to EURACTIV, EU foreign ministers on Monday (12 October) agreed to impose sanctions on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and move forward with a sanctions framework against the culprits involved in the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
As part of a new package of measures responding to the continuous crackdown on protesters in Belarus, Lukashenko will be targeted with a travel ban and his assets will be frozen.
Additionally, the EU will scale back the financial support it gives to his government and instead increase its support for the Belarusian people and civil society, EU foreign ministers said in a statement.
They condemned the violence used by the authorities against peaceful protesters and called for the release of all detained persons, including political prisoners.
In this context, EU foreign ministers stated “the EU stands ready to take further restrictive measures, including against entities and high-ranking officials, including A. Lukashenko.”
The EU had imposed new sanctions on 40 officials and entities involved in election fraud and violent crackdown of protests in early October, but so far refrained from penalising Lukashenko himself, hoping to persuade him to engage in dialogue with opposition forces to resolve the crisis.
“There hasn’t been any sign from the Belarus side to engage in dialogue with the opposition,” EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters after the meeting, adding that “business as usual” in light of police brutality against protesters no longer possible.
The fresh crackdown on mass protests in Minsk over the weekend, which saw police use water cannons and stun grenades to break up a protest in Minsk and make hundreds of arrests, prompted a change in approach.
After getting the political green light from ministers, the new sanctions list will be processed in detail by the EU’s legal services before they enter into force.
EU foreign ministers also discussed a joint French-German proposal for targeted sanctions over the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, agreeing to sanction the people and entities potentially responsible for it.
“We have initiated sanctions against individuals whom we believe to be partly responsible for this violation of international law. It is important that the EU shows unity in such a serious crime – we did that today,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters after the meeting.
EU diplomats said there was broad support among foreign ministers for asset freezes and travel bans on several Russian GRU military intelligence officials.
The political agreement is to be legally implemented “as soon as possible”, but before the December EU summit.
