The US has begun drawing up sanctions against Belarus and its president, Alexander Lukashenko, following last weekend’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight and the arrest of a 26-year-old opposition activist and blogger on board.
Belarussian authorities used a fake bomb threat as a pretext to force the flight, from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania, to land in Minsk, where Roman Protasevich and girlfriend Sofia Sapega were arrested. They have been in custody ever since.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced late Friday that so-called “full blocking sanctions” would be re-imposed against nine state-owned companies in the former Soviet republic effective June 3. The sanctions would prohibit Americans from dealing with the businesses, their property or other interests.
Psaki added that the White House is working with the European Union and other allies to develop targeted sanctions against Lukashenko and members of his regime “associated with ongoing abuses of human rights and corruption, the falsification of the 2020 election, and the events of May 23.”
Meanwhile, the State Department issued a “Level 4 Do Not Travel” advisory warning Americans not to travel to Belarus, and the Federal Aviation Administration warned airline pilots to “exercise extreme caution” when flying over Belarussian airspace.
Psaki concluded her statement by calling on Lukashenko to “allow a credible international investigation into the events of May 23, immediately release all political prisoners, and enter into a comprehensive and genuine political dialogue with the leaders of the democratic opposition and civil society groups that leads to the conduct of free and fair Presidential elections under OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe] auspices and monitoring.”
Lukashenko, 66, a former Soviet Army soldier, has ruled Belarus since 1994 and is sometimes referred to as “Europe’s Last Dictator.” He has been accused of ordering the kidnapping and murder of opposition politicians and activists, as well as authorizing the detention and torture of Belarusians protesting the results of last August’s presidential election.
Lukashenko claimed to have won a sixth term in office, but the opposition and international observers have rejected that claim and called for a new poll.
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