Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is not on the list of people sanctioned by the European Union (EU), European Council President Charles Michel told reporters on Friday.
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These sanctions concern some 40 Belarusian officials accused of repression of the opposition or of falsifying the result of the presidential election on August 9. “President Lukashenko is not on the list,” he said.
A “written procedure” will be launched on Friday to allow the entry into force of these sanctions which freeze the assets of the persons concerned in the EU and which are prohibited from entering the territory of the Union.
“If the EU joins us (…) that could help a lot”, argued again Thursday on RTL radio the Belarusian opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
This release of sanctions against Minsk was conditioned by the adoption of a strong message accompanied by threats of sanctions addressed to Turkey demanded by Cyprus.