President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko should immediately terminate repressions against civil society, and so far it will not happen, the European Union in accordance with its approach is ready to consider new sanctions. This is stated in the statement of the EU Supreme Representative on Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy of Josepa Borrel.
The document is published on the anniversary of the 2020 presidential election, which led to unprecedented protests and were not recognized in the EU. Borrel stressed that the existing Belarusian authorities should organize a comprehensive national dialogue, no other way to put an end to the political crisis.
However, instead, over the past year, Lukashenko, according to the European Commissioner, aggravated the confrontation with the Belarusian people and split society. He recalled that thousands of Belarusians were forced to leave the country, detained or died in unclear circumstances. According to the EU, in Belarus currently more than 600 political prisoners.
The head of European diplomacy indicated that the current sanctions from Minsk will be removed only after the Republic begins to adhere to the principles of democracy and the rule of law, as well as respect its obligations in the field of human rights.
Earlier, the Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Puzzchenko said that the Republic expects to compensate the possible damage from Western sanctions due to support from Russia. At the same time, he is confident that the damage from the entered restrictive measures will not exceed three percent of GDP.
In turn, Lukashenko himself argues that the countries of the West are deprived of the Belarusians of wages, pensions, benefits and high-quality medicine through sanctions.
Last at the moment Brussels sanctions entered in late June. Under them were 166 physical and 15 legal entities, in addition, for the first time, restrictive measures began to operate on the sectors of the Belarusian economy.