UPDATE - EU to impose sanctions over Belarus unrest

UPDATED WITH EU LEADERS' STATEMENT ON EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union will soon impose sanctions on individuals responsible for violence, repression, and election fraud in Belarus, the bloc’s top officials announced on Wednesday.

Targeted sanctions on specific people will be adopted as soon as possible, according to Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.

Speaking to reporters after an emergency videoconference of EU leaders on the Belarus crisis, the officials said the measures would not affect the people of the landlocked eastern European country.

Von der Leyen announced the EU will also mobilize an additional €53 million ($63 million) in financial support for Belarus.

-Crackdown in wake of ‘unfair’ vote

She said €2 million will be used to help the victims of the government’s violent crackdown on protests that have swept the country since the Aug. 9 presidential election.

Another €1 million will be spent on civil society and media freedom, while the remaining €50 million will be used to help Belarus’ fight against COVID-19 and mitigate the pandemic’s economic impact.

Von der Leyen and Michel said the EU does not recognize the results of the Aug. 9 election because the votes were “neither free nor fair.”

They said EU countries want to see a fresh election in Belarus.

However, they said it was up to the Belarusian people to decide their future after a dialogue involving all actors in the conflict.

“The EU fully supports the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] dialogue and is ready to provide any assistance,” Michel said.

As protests continue in Belarus, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said Monday that she is “ready to lead the nation” through a transitional period in order to end the unrest and organize a new “fair and open presidential election.”

According to official results, President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, won the election with 80.1% of votes, while his main rival Tikhanovskaya bagged 10.12%.

-Eastern Mediterranean

EU leaders also discussed briefly the situation at the Eastern Mediterranean and the bloc’s relations with Turkey.

“We are increasingly concerned about the growing tensions and stressed the urgent need to de-escalate,” the European heads of states and governments said in their conclusions.

They also reaffirmed the bloc’s solidarity with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, as well as their previous declarations on Turkish drilling activities that the EU finds illegal.

At Michel’s suggestion, the leaders will likely dedicate a separate two-day physical summit to the question at the end of September.

Opposed by Athens and the Greek Cypriot administration, Turkey has sent energy exploration vessels out along its continental shelf, in areas it declared years ago to the UN.

Based on small Greek islands just off the coast of Turkey, Greece, France, and other countries have sought to illegally confine Turkey to its shores, although it has the longest coast on the Mediterranean.

Turkey has urged dialogue to reach a win-win solution under a fair sharing of the region’s maritime energy resources.