U.S., EU, others hit officials of Belarus with new sanctions

BRUSSELS -- The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada announced new sanctions on Belarusian officials Monday, four weeks after the country's authoritarian regime forced the landing of a commercial airliner and arrested a dissident journalist who was aboard.

The sanctions against officials allegedly involved in the May 23 arrest stopped short of the hardest-hitting type of sectoral sanctions that are likely to impose significant pressure on the Belarusian economy. But they were a strong, coordinated response from Western countries that were intended to be a blow to the base of support for President Alexander Lukashenko.

EU foreign ministers also agreed to draw up a list of sectors for broad business bans and to revisit the issue within days.

Western leaders have demanded the immediate release of the journalist, Roman Protasevich, along with his traveling companion, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen. In the weeks since they were detained, Protasevich has been forced to appear on Belarusian television on a handful of occasions, each time appearing to have been beaten. The pair was on a May 23 Ryanair flight between Athens, Greece, and Vilnius, Lithuania, when Belarusian air traffic authorities contacted the plane's pilots with a false bomb threat and told them to land in Minsk.

The EU on Monday went furthest in its sanctions, partly because it has deeper connections to Belarus. In all, 78 people and eight companies were added to the EU sanctions list, including people closely connected to Lukashenko, a major oil company and two big automotive companies that are pillars of the Belarusian economy. The United States blacklisted 16 people and five companies.

"These coordinated designations demonstrate the steadfast transatlantic commitment to supporting the Belarusian people's democratic aspirations," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. "We stand with the people of Belarus in support of their fundamental freedoms."

European leaders said they hoped to shift Belarusian policies with the sanctions.

"At a certain point, much stronger measures have to be taken that will affect the economic sector more deeply," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in Luxembourg, where EU foreign ministers approved the sanctions Monday. "There are over 500 political prisoners. We witnessed the horrific spectacle of a journalist who was kidnapped, making a sort of Maoist-style confession, saying, 'Yes I am guilty,' in front of the television cameras. So we must use all the means that we can mobilize."

EU leaders met in Brussels in May the day after Protasevich and Sapega were detained and agreed to impose wide-ranging sanctions. But Monday was the day the final details were agreed on and when they took effect. The European Union had already cut off air ties to Belarus, banning EU airlines from flying over Belarusian airspace and denying its own airspace and landing rights to Belarusian airlines.

The EU is considering additional sanctions against Belarus potash sector, its financial companies and its oil and arms industries, officials said.

The sanctions are seen in the short run as likely to push Lukashenko closer to his main patron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who helps subsidize the Belarusian state by selling it discounted oil and natural gas. The Belarusian leader has long oscillated between the EU and Russia, playing the sides off each other and favoring closer ties with whichever one offers the more attractive options at any given moment.

Upcoming Events