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Baltic states, Poland call for EU sanctions on Belarusian officials - Lithuanian president

The presidents agreed that the upcoming European Council summit, set to take place on August 19, needed to announce sanctions against those responsible for election rigging and a crackdown on protesters

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda

© AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis

VILNIUS, August 17. /TASS/. Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland plan to call for sanctions on those responsible for excessive use of force against protesters in Belarus, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s press service said, following a video meeting between the four countries’ presidents on Monday.

According to the press service, the presidents agreed that the upcoming European Council summit, set to take place on August 19, needed to announce sanctions against those responsible for election rigging and a crackdown on protesters.

Read also

Belarus workers taking part in protests against election results

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Poland and Lithuania, Jacek Czaputowicz and Linas Linkevicius, have held a telephone conversation, discussing the situation in Belarus. "Together we support independent, sovereign and democratic Belarus," the Polish Foreign Ministry said on Twitter following the phone call.

Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko received 80.1% of the vote, his main rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya garnered 10.12%. Protests erupted in the country's capital of Minsk and several other cities following the presidential vote, leading to clashes between protesters and law enforcement officers. According to the Belarusian Interior Ministry, several thousand people were detained, dozens of police officers and demonstrators suffered injuries.

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