Baltic States and Poland call on Belarus to stop repressions and supporting Russia's war against Ukraine

On the anniversary of the falsified election in Belarus, ministers of foreign affairs from the Baltic States and Poland issued a statement calling on the Belarusian government to stop persecuting members of the opposition and supporting the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda, citing a statement released by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Details: In a joint statement, the foreign ministers from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland said that Alexander Lukashenko’s unlawful regime has continued and ramped up ruthless repressions over the last three years, despite the strong condemnation of the international community.

"Human rights activists, journalists, trade union organisers, media workers, lawyers and citizens who criticise the system are being labelled as extremists and terrorists, persecuted, blackmailed, and imprisoned; some of them went missing or were killed in the government’s efforts to suppress resistance to its illegitimate rule," the statement reads.

Since February 2022, Lukashenko’s regime has also been an accomplice and a supporter of Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine, in particular through taking part in the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children.

"As long as the Minsk regime cares only about its own survival, it continues to destroy Belarusian statehood in an illegitimate and unlawful way and against the will of the Belarusian people, by ceding its sovereignty to Russia," the ministers wrote, accusing the Belarusian regime of destabilising the region by facilitating migrants’ entry into the EU.

"At this particularly painful juncture in Belarusian history, we continue to stand with its people and remain faithful to the commitments captured in the historic motto: ‘For Our Freedom and Yours’. We believe in democratic, independent, and sovereign Belarus just as much as we believe in Ukraine’s victory," the statement said.

"We are once again calling for the immediate and unconditional release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners, putting an end to repressions, and ceasing to support Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. We will continue to isolate Lukashenko’s criminal and illegitimate regime for as long as it continues to carry out repressions, violate international law, instrumentalise migration, and commit other crimes, and we will step up the EU’s targeted and sectoral sanctions against it," the ministers stressed.

Background:

• On 9 August, the US Department of the Treasury expanded sanctions on the Belarusian regime to mark the three-year anniversary of the fraudulent August 2020 presidential election.
• On 3 August, the EU Council adopted sanctions against 38 persons and three legal entities from Belarus as a result of the deterioration of human rights abuses in the country.
• The EU Council also extended the ban on exports to Belarus of a number of critical goods and technologies that contribute to strengthening its military and technological capabilities. An additional ban was imposed on the export of firearms and ammunition, as well as goods and technologies that can be used in the aviation and space industries.

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