Brussels/Lisbon (dpa) – After sealing off their skies to Belarusian air traffic, the European Union’s foreign ministers on Thursday started debating targets for economic sanctions, with the oil and potash sectors looking likely.
«We really need to find the sectors, the companies, who actually benefit the regime, but not hurting the people,» Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said before talks with his EU counterparts in Lisbon.
The measures are the next planned response to the forced diversion to Minsk of a commercial flight between two EU capitals – Athens and Vilnius – in order to detain a Belarusian opposition journalist and his girlfriend on Sunday.
The EU already moved to restrict access to its airspace for Belarusian carriers.
Landsbergis suggested the oil products sector was an option but stressed that debate was only just starting.
Another possibility floated by Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, would be the potash sector. State company Belaruskali is one of the world’s biggest suppliers.
Landsbergis also warned that Russia could annex Belarus in the same the way it did to parts of Ukraine.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is working to change the constitution and possibly merge Belarus and Russia, according to the minister. «If an illegitimate president unites two countries … then in my opinion, it’s Crimea just on a bigger scale,» the conservative politician said.
The EU does not recognize Lukashenko as Belarus’ legitimate president. Protests following an August 2020 election the opposition says was rigged have been met with a brutal crackdown.
Belarus, a former Soviet republic with close ties to Russia, borders member states Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
No sanctions decisions were expected on Thursday, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.
