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EU will not play by Lukashenka`s rules, says Lithuanian foreign minister

The European Union wants to make it clear for Alyaksandr Lukashenka that it will not play by his rules, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis told reporters on Friday, commenting on the EU Council `s decision to reinforce restrictive measures against Minsk, according to obzor.lt.

In response to international calls for the release of the political prisoners, Minsk has only increased the repression of the political opposition and civil society, said the minister.

“It is necessary to make it clear for the Lukashenka regime that the EU shall not play by his rules,” he said. “When they respond with a foreign travel ban on opposition figures and the execution of death row inmates to our calls to release and exonerate the political prisoners, the EU’s answer should be unambiguous. And it was such."

At their Friday meeting in Brussels, the EU foreign ministers decided to impose sanctions on a further 12 Belarusians, including businesspeople, and 29 Belarusian companies to punish the Lukashenka regime for the repression of political activists and civil society representatives.
Mr. Azubalis stressed that those were only targeted measures, and that large-scale economic sanctions against Belarus were out of the question.

As for Lithuanian businesspeople who cooperate with Belarus and are worried that they could be affected by the EU`s sanctions, the minister said that they should understand that they could be affected by Mr. Lukashenka’s policies in the first place. “Possible risks for businesses are above all due to an economic dead-end to which Belarus is being pushed by its leader, who uses repressive measures against his society and make take inadequate measures against foreign businesses.”

Mr. Azubalis added that the EU reiterated its readiness at the meeting in Brussels to facilitate the visa regime for ordinary Belarusian citizens. //BelaPAN