European Union (EU) leaders agreed on Monday (24) to adopt a set of sanctions against Belarus and called for the immediate release of opponent Roman Protasevich, detained on Sunday after the plane he was traveling on was forced to land in Belarus. Minsk.
During the first day of a European Council meeting in Brussels, representatives of the 27 member states called for the release of the opponent of President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime and his girlfriend, Sofia Sapega.
In addition, the EU has banned Belarusian airlines from flying into European airspace and has asked EU companies to avoid going to Belarus.
European leaders asked the bloc’s foreign policy team to draw up a list of specific economic sanctions to be imposed “without delay” and called for an “urgent investigation” to analyze an “unacceptable and unprecedented” incident.
The council was also instructed to identify “as soon as possible” the new people and entities that will be affected by restrictive measures. Finally, solidarity with Latvia was expressed for the “unjustified” expulsion of its diplomats.
Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that a 3 billion-euro investment package from the EU for Belarus will remain frozen until the country becomes democratic. This afternoon, in a video posted online, Protasevich, detained when a Ryanair plane was forced to land, said he was in good health and acknowledged having acted in the organization of mass protests in Minsk last year.
Wearing a dark sweatshirt and with his hands firmly crossed, the blogger said he is in a prison in Belarus and denied having heart problems. The video was published on several channels of the Telegram messaging application.
