Belarus’ response to EU sanctions may be applicable to foreign media, says top diplomat
At an emergency meeting on August 14, the EU foreign ministers took a decision to impose sanctions against Belarusian officials the EU believed to be responsible for the falsification of the August 9 presidential polls, the use of force and violation of human rights
MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. In case the European Union imposes sanctions Minsk will take corresponding measures that may be applicable to foreign media, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makey said on Friday.
"Naturally, if any sanctions are imposed on Belarus, I think, the Belarusian state will take corresponding steps linked, so to say, with the political functioning of states. They may be linked with both the political system and functioning of foreign mass media accredited to Belarus, and a number of other steps," he said in an interview televised by the Belarusian television channel STV.
According to Makey, Minsk will never take any moves to deteriorate relations with its major partner, the European Union. "But we are ready to give an adequate response to such destructive actions," he stressed.
At an emergency meeting on August 14, the EU foreign ministers took a decision to impose sanctions against Belarusian officials the EU believed to be responsible for the falsification of the August 9 presidential polls, the use of force and violation of human rights. The ministers instructed the EU diplomatic services to draw a corresponding black list. It was reported later that would-be anti-Belarussian sanctions would be among the topics of a EU ministerial meeting on September 21.