The UK on Monday joined the US, Canada and the European Union in imposing sanctions on Belarus following the forced landing of the Ryanair commercial airplane in Minsk on May 23 and the arrest of opposition figure Roman Protasevich
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st June, 2021) The UK on Monday joined the US, Canada and the European Union in imposing sanctions on Belarus following the forced landing of the Ryanair commercial airplane in Minsk on May 23 and the arrest of opposition figure Roman Protasevich.
Sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes against seven senior-ranking officials in the Belarusian government and BNK (UK) Ltd, an exporter of Belarusian oil products.
"The UK and our partners have today sanctioned those responsible for the continued suppression of democracy and human rights in Belarus. The [Belarusian President Alexsander] Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of airline passengers and crew in a shameful ruse to snatch Roman Protasevich. We will hold the regime to account in co-ordination with our allies including through further banning travel, freezing assets and cutting off oil export revenue streams," UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement.
In late May, a Ryanair airplane flying from Athens to Vilnius landed in Minsk over a bomb threat flagged by the Belarusian authorities that turned out to be false. The authorities detained passenger Protasevich, whose Telegram channel Nexta is said to have played a crucial part during last year's post-election unrest and has been designated as being extremist.
According to the UK governments statement, the sanctions are listed under the autonomous Belarus sanctions regime, and while the EU, the US and Canada are imposing their own sanctions in parallel, London is also developing plans for further measures targeting specific sectors of the Belarusian economy.
