EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to lift nearly all sanctions on Belarus, including against strongman President Alexander Lukashenko, after improvements in the country's human rights record. The bloc in October suspended asset freezes and travel ban sanctions against 170 individuals and three entities in Belarus and foreign ministers decided to make that decision permanent, a statement said.
Four people not included in the October suspension because of their involvement in "unresolved disappearances" remain blacklisted and a longstanding arms embargo will also stay in place for another 12 months. The foreign ministers noted that Lukashenko had, as promised, released the last political prisoners he held - a "long sought step," according to the statement issued after their regular monthly meeting in Brussels. Together with peaceful presidential elections in October, this represented "an opportunity for EU-Belarus relations to develop on a more positive agenda."
Accordingly, ministers agreed to drop most of the sanctions, the statement said. EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said after the meeting that Belarus was "showing a positive trend which we want to encourage." "It is not a rosy or perfect picture, that was the general assessment, but we agreed on a critical engagement; some more focused on the critical, others on the engagement," Mogherini told a press conference.
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