EU FOREIGN ministers eyed sanctions on key sectors of the Belarus economy today, as the bloc ratchets up pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko after the forced landing of an airliner.

Ministers meeting in Luxembourg were discussing broad-ranging measures targeting major revenue sources for the Belarusian regime: potash fertiliser exports, the tobacco industry, petroleum and petrochemical products, and the financial sector. 

“We will consistently continue on the path of sanctioning Lukashenko and his regime. We will no longer only sanction individuals, but we will now also impose sectoral sanctions,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. 

“We want to contribute in this way to the financial drying up of this regime.”

Austria’s top diplomat Alexander Schallenberg said he expected ministers to give “unanimous” backing for economic sanctions that would also include a ban on sales of surveillance equipment to Belarus and tightening of an arms embargo. 

But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned no final decision would be taken until after the bloc’s leaders meet for a summit in Brussels later this week. 

“We’re going to hurt the economy of Belarus heavily,” Borrell told journalists.

The ministers were set today to formally sign off on placing 86 additional individuals and entities in Belarus on an assets freeze and visa ban blacklist. 

Seven of the individuals being sanctioned are linked directly to the incident involving the Ryanair passenger jet last month and the rest are targeted over the government’s broader crackdown on opposition, diplomats said.  

Belarusian strongman Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet on May 23 to intercept the flight from Greece to Lithuania.

When the plane was forced to land in Minsk, Belarus arrested dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega on board. 

Last year, the EU slapped sanctions on 88 individuals – including Lukashenko and his son – over a brutal crackdown on protests since the veteran leader claimed victory at elections in August deemed fraudulent by the West. 

Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, has so far shrugged off the pressure with backing from his key ally Russia.

Ahead of their discussions, ministers met with exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya – who insists she rightfully won last year’s polls. 

“Sanctions aren’t a silver bullet but they can help to end violence and release people,” Tikhanovskaya wrote on Twitter. – AFP, June 21, 2021.