Lithuanian minister calls for further expanding sanctions against Minsk regime

  • 2021-01-10
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis called on Friday for further expanding sanctions against the regime of Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko to include judges and officials of the special police unit OMON.

Speaking after Friday's meeting with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Landsbergis said that sanctions should not hurt ordinary people working in companies controlled by the regime. 

"Sanctions must be adequate. They must send a message to the regime that its actions are unacceptable, (but) they must not hurt people who work in a company (controlled by the regime) but may not support Lukashenko," he told a press conference.

"During the meeting, we emphasized the need to look for ways to expand the so-called 'blacklist' of people coming to Lithuania, to the European Union," the minister said. 

These could include "judges who make wrong decisions to please the regime, defying existing laws or international agreements, and punish people for taking part in protests", as well as OMON and police officials, he said.

Landsbergis called on Belarusians to gather evidence about violations committed by the regime. 

"Packages of evidence have to be collected based on which Lithuania and, possibly, the Baltic countries, and, later, the EU, could add (individuals) to the blacklist," he said.