The EU Agreed on Sanctions against Belarus, but Not Lukashenka

The European Union has made a political decision on the application of sanctions in connection with the situation in Belarus and will approve them tomorrow with the written procedure.

“Immediately after the elections in Belarus, we agreed to hold a special European Council to work out a common approach and express a united position on the situation in Belarus. Today, we have decided to implement the sanctions that were agreed earlier. This is a very important and a clear signal of our reliability. We will apply these sanctions by written procedure tomorrow,” said Charles Michel, President of the European Council.

In particular, the sanctions will be targeted and directed against 40 individuals in Belarus. Lukashenka will not be on this list yet.

“Although Lukashenka is not in this letter of sanctions, we will, of course, follow the situation and further events. I want to reiterate that we condemn all intimidation and violence against peaceful members of the opposition,” Michel said.

It should be recalled that the EU Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs failed to reach a consensus decision on sanctions against Belarus due to a separate position of Cyprus. He linked this issue to EU restrictive measures against Turkey over drilling in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone.

Instead, Britain has imposed sanctions on Lukashenka and those around him. This country left the EU, so it could ignore the opinion of Cyprus. Ukraine, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are among those who have already joined the sanctions against Belarus.

Natalia Tolub