Filenews 25 May 2021
The EU's 27 heads of state and government unanimously adopted conclusions ordering additional sanctions, including targeted economic sanctions against Belarus following the incident of the diversion of Ryanair flight Athens-Vilnius to Minsk to arrest a journalist from the Lukashenko regime.
In particular, in the text adopted:
"The European Council strongly condemns the forced landing of the Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus on 23 May, endangering aviation security and the arrest by the Belarusian authorities of journalist Roman Pratacevic and Sofia Sapega."
The European Council calls for:
- the immediate release of Roman Pratacevic and Sofia Sapega and the guarantee of their freedom of movement,
- calls on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to urgently investigate the unacceptable and unprecedented incident,
- calls on the Council of the Member States to adopt additional listings as soon as possible under the relevant sanctions framework;
- calls on the Council to impose additional targeted sanctions and on the High Representative and the Commission to present proposals without delay to this end,
- calls on EU-based air carriers to avoid overflights over Belarus
- calls on the Council to adopt the necessary measures to prohibit Belarusian Airlines from flying from EU airspace and to prevent its access to EU airports on these airlines,
- stands in solidarity with Latvia following the expulsion of Latvian diplomats.
"The European Council will closely monitor the issue", concludes the text of the conclusions,
According to a Community official, the leaders approved the strong actions in accordance with the proposal of the President of the European Council and the text was adopted very quickly.
He spoke of a strong reaction due to the serious risk to aviation and passenger safety by the Belarusian authorities
It noted the clear message of targeted economic sanctions or a sectoral focus of sanctions under Article 215.
He recalled that Lukashenko himself has already been included in the previous sanctions list.
Finally, he informed that the debate on Russia began half an hour ago also without mobile phones in the room.
KYPE
