German MFA: Measures against Belarus just the beginning of long spiral of sanctions, unless Minsk makes concessions
<p> MINSK, May 27 - PrimePress. The measures taken against Belarus is only the beginning of a big and long spiral of sanctions, we are not talking about “small steps”, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters before an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon. </p> <p> </p> <p> “We will continue to look at what consequences [these sanctions] will have in Belarus, whether Lukashenko will give in,” Maas said upon arrival at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon. “And if this is not the case, we have to assume that this will be only the beginning of a big and long spiral of sanctions.” </p> <p> </p> <p> “It is clear that we do not want to be satisfied with small steps in terms of sanctions,” he added. </p> <p> </p> <p> “Now the sanctions have to be implemented quickly, the European Commission and all the member states are working intensively on this, hopefully it can be done in the next days. It is extremely important that a clear response has been given and is now being implemented,” Maas said. </p> <p> </p> <p> In his words, the idea is about “imposing, to a large extent, sanctions on the economic structure and the flow of payments in Belarus,” so that “the Lukashenko regime understands that the time when we were ready for dialogue has passed (and will not come) as long as things like last week continue to happen.” </p> <p> </p> <p> “The first signal that we expect is that the more than 400 political prisoners that are there will be released,” the German foreign minister said. “And as long as this is not the case, there can be no relaxation on the part of the European Union when it comes to imposing new sanctions.” </p> <p> </p> <p> As previously reported, after the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, a political crisis began in the country. The authorities responded to the protests of citizens who disagreed with the election results with harsh repression and persecution. Since October 2020, the EU has already introduced three packages of sanctions against the Belarusian authorities, and a fourth package is in the pipeline. The decision to adopt a fourth package of sanctions was taken by the EU summit on May 25 following the incident with the Ryanair plane. End </p>
2021-05-28
Primepress
German MFA: Measures against Belarus just the beginning of long spiral of sanctions, unless Minsk makes concessions
MINSK, May 27 - PrimePress. The measures taken against Belarus is only the beginning of a big and long spiral of sanctions, we are not talking about “small steps”, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters before an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon.
“We will continue to look at what consequences [these sanctions] will have in Belarus, whether Lukashenko will give in,” Maas said upon arrival at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Lisbon. “And if this is not the case, we have to assume that this will be only the beginning of a big and long spiral of sanctions.”
“It is clear that we do not want to be satisfied with small steps in terms of sanctions,” he added.
“Now the sanctions have to be implemented quickly, the European Commission and all the member states are working intensively on this, hopefully it can be done in the next days. It is extremely important that a clear response has been given and is now being implemented,” Maas said.
In his words, the idea is about “imposing, to a large extent, sanctions on the economic structure and the flow of payments in Belarus,” so that “the Lukashenko regime understands that the time when we were ready for dialogue has passed (and will not come) as long as things like last week continue to happen.”
“The first signal that we expect is that the more than 400 political prisoners that are there will be released,” the German foreign minister said. “And as long as this is not the case, there can be no relaxation on the part of the European Union when it comes to imposing new sanctions.”
As previously reported, after the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, a political crisis began in the country. The authorities responded to the protests of citizens who disagreed with the election results with harsh repression and persecution. Since October 2020, the EU has already introduced three packages of sanctions against the Belarusian authorities, and a fourth package is in the pipeline. The decision to adopt a fourth package of sanctions was taken by the EU summit on May 25 following the incident with the Ryanair plane. End