West ramps up Belarus sanctions over airliner

Western powers, including the United States and the European Union, joined forces on Monday to impose further sanctions on Belarus in response to an incident involving a diverted airliner last month.

The Western parties, joined by Britain and Canada, told the Belarusian government to cooperate with investigations into the forced landing of a Ryanair jet in Minsk in May and the subsequent arrest of a reporter and his girlfriend on board.

"Today, we have taken coordinated sanctions action in response to the May 23 forced landing of a commercial Ryanair flight between two EU member states and the politically motivated arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega," the four parties said in a joint statement published on the EU website.

They called on Minsk to cooperate with a Western probe into the incident, immediately release all political prisoners, and "enter into a comprehensive and genuine political dialogue" with the opposition and civil society.

According to Russian state media agency Tass, foreign ministers of EU member states meeting in Luxembourg voted on Monday to hit important parts of the Belarus economy: Banking, oil and tobacco and, notably, the potash industry. Their action represents an effort to broaden the punishment meted out to Belarus by penalizing organizations rather than just individuals.

The sectoral sanctions are expected to be confirmed by European heads of state and government at a meeting later this week.

"We will approve the package of new sanctions, which is a wider package," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief.

He said that 86 individuals and organizations from Belarus would be targeted with a ban on travel to the bloc and the freezing of assets.

The New York Times said that so far, 166 people and 15 entities in Belarus have been placed under EU sanctions.

Accusations denied

There was no immediate reaction from the Belarusian administration, but President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly denied the accusations leveled at him from the West.

Earlier, in a speech in parliament, Lukashenko said common sense had been abandoned and "many red lines" crossed as Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus over the Ryanair incident.

Russian Ambassador to Belarus Yevgeny Lukyanov said on Monday that Moscow will support Minsk in the wake of the new sanctions imposed by the EU.

"We will stand by Belarus," the diplomat stressed. He added that Moscow will support Minsk "until the most critical circumstances".

"We are allies. Allies do not betray each other. More than that, we are two fraternal Slavic peoples," Lukyanov said.