Member States’ ambassadors to the EU agreed, on Wednesday 16 June, to impose sanctions on 78 individuals and seven entities deemed responsible for the crackdown in Belarus and the hijacking of a Ryanair flight on 23 May, an EU source confirmed to EUROPE.
Of these, seven individuals and one entity will be sanctioned for their responsibility in the hijacking (see EUROPE 12725/1).
These measures - an asset freeze and visa ban - are expected to be formally adopted by the ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council of the EU on Monday 21 June.
Eighty-eight individuals and seven entities have already been sanctioned for their responsibility in the brutal crackdown and intimidation of peaceful demonstrators, opposition members and journalists in Belarus and/or for election fraud (see EUROPE 12667/23).
Speaking to the media on the same day, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said he hoped an agreement will be reached between the EU27 on economic sanctions. Discussions are taking place on the chemical, energy and financial sectors. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)