Korcok: EU to Target Sanctions against Lukashenko's Figures

Bratislava, August 14 (TASR) – Foreign affairs ministers of the EU-member countries during a video conference on Friday agreed on beginning to work on drafting targeted sanctions against individual figures of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, said Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Minister Ivan Korcok at a press conference on Friday evening.

He announced that Slovakia will shelter at its universities some students from Belarus who were recently expelled from schools in their home country for political reasons.

“There’s unity [in opinion] that the election in Belarus wasn’t fair and democratic, and its results were falsified,” said Korcok.

In Slovakia’s name, Korcok presented four proposals: 1) a call on Lukashenko’s regime to stop violence and release all detainees; 2) leaving communication channels to Lukashenko’s regime open with the single issue to be debated being a new fair election; 3) targeting sanctions on specific people who are responsible for what Slovakia believes was an election fraud and subsequent repression against protesters; 4) maintaining robust dialogue and investment in civil society in Belarus.

Protests have swayed Belarus since the presidential election last Sunday, which saw a landslide victory of incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, with thousands of people arrested at the demos.