EU imposes sanctions on high-level Belarusian officials, including Lukashenko

The European Union has introduced a new package of sanctions against fifteen high-level Belarusian officials, including President Alexander Lukashenko, reports RBC. The Official Journal of the European Union announced the new sanctions on Friday, November 6.

In addition to Lukashenko himself, the sanctions list includes his son and National Security Advisor Viktor Lukashenko (Viktar Lukashenka), as well as his Chief of Staff Igor Sergeenko (Ihar Serhiaenka) and KGB Chairman Ivan Tertel, among others.

The EU sanctions include visa restrictions and freezes on assets held in banks within the European Union.

At the beginning of October, the European Union imposed sanctions on more than 40 Belarusian officials for electoral fraud during the 2020 presidential elections and the violent crackdown on opposition protesters that followed it. At the time, Lukashenko was excluded from the sanctions list. According to Brussels, this was an attempt to preserve the opportunity for dialogue with Minsk. In mid-October, the European Union announced its readiness to add Lukashenko to its sanctions list if the situation in Belarus did not improve.

In response to the first round of EU sanctions, the Belarusian authorities announced plans to take restrictive measures against European officials.