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Crisis in Belarus

EU envoys agree on fourth round of sanctions against Belarus

The decision will be formally approved by the EU Council at the ministerial level in a written procedure soon

BRUSSELS, June 16. / TASS /. The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) agreed on the fourth package of EU sanctions against Belarus, a diplomatic source told TASS on Wednesday.

The restrictive measures include freezing accounts, an entry ban for 80 Belarusian officials and law enforcement agents and prohibiting European businesses from holding contacts with the republic’s seven legal entities.

"COREPER has agreed on extending the blacklist on Belarus to include about 80 individuals and seven legal entities," the source said.

The decision will be formally approved by the EU Council at the ministerial level in a written procedure soon, and then it is going to come into force. Perhaps, this decision will be made at the EU foreign ministerial meeting on June 21.

This package of EU sanctions has been hammered out for a long time, however, its implementation was accelerated after an incident with a Ryanair plane’s emergency landing in Minsk and the arrest of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich, who was onboard. Against the background of this incident, the European Union is also discussing the possibility of slapping economic sanctions on Minsk.

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