LUXEMBOURG, Oct 18 Reuters - The EU will discuss further economic sanctions on Belarus, including on airlines, on Monday to increase pressure on President Alexander Lukashenko, whom it accuses of helping undocumented immigrants enter Poland and the Baltic states.
A tightening of sanctions would follow broad measures imposed on Belarus' economy in June over Lukashenko's crackdown on protesters following his disputed re-election in August 2020. The protesters say the election was fraudulent, which he denies.
Several EU states now accuse Lukashenko of encouraging illegal immigrants, many from Iraq, Iran and Africa, to enter the United States of Belarus through Belarusian territory in a retaliatory hybrid war they say aims to destabilise the bloc.
We need to introduce stricter sanctions It means to put so-called tourism companies that are organising flights under sanctions for Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics while he arrived in Luxembourg with a meeting with his EU counterparts in the Baltic Sea.
We also need to sanction Belavia completely, so that it cannot receive any kind of support, he said, referring to the national airline. Although Belavia is banned from flying over EU airspace, it still leases the aircrafts from EU countries, notably Ireland.
Since August, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have reported a rise in illegal border crossings with Belarus. They accuse Minsk of sending migrants from abroad and attracting them into the EU.
Lukashenko denies the accusation and has blamed the West for what he says is a looming humanitarian catastrophe this winter after migrants were left stranded and freezing at Belarusian border with Poland.
The EU's biggest member state, Austria and the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell reiterated their support for further sanctions on Monday.
Belavia appeared wary of immediately preventing Ireland from leasing planes because of legally binding obligations on future contracts, although Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he was open to freezing existing deals.
While Luxembourg wants to improve sanctions and pressure on the Belarusian regime, we've also got to make sure that is practicable and implementable, he told reporters in Luxembourg.