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Journalism of Courage
European Union leaders decided on Friday to punish Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko after an election seen as rigged—announcing “restrictions” against the authoritarian leader that would likely include a travel ban from Europe.
Speaking on behalf of the EU, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik said the 25 EU leaders “decided to take restrictive measures against those politically and administratively responsible for the violations…including President Lukashenko.”
The EU decision puts Lukashenko on the same EU blacklist as Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Myanmar’s military leaders, all of whom have a freeze on their European assets and visa bans against them.
EU officials said they were drafting plans to expand specific measures, which currently apply only to six top Belarus officials and had not included Lukashenko.
CONSTANT BRAND
