Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that the European Union had failed to achieve democratization in Belarus neither by means of sanctions nor the open dialog. "Belarus for Poland is the same as Cuba for Spain. There are no easy solutions," said Radoslaw Sikorski.
«We intensified the dialogue as soon as the political prisoners had been released and more or less acceptable elections had been held, but as the candidates have been put into prison again, and the freedom of speech has been undermined, we must treat the Belarusian people in a more generous way, but tighten sanctions against those, responsible for repression,» said Radoslaw Sikorski in an interview with El País.
Radoslaw Sikorski explained that if the Belarusian authorities didn’t release the arrested opposition leaders, the leadership of the country would stop issuing visas with «economic sanctions to be introduced against the pro-regime companies,» reports InoPressa.ru.
As Telegraf previously reported, the EU visa sanctions have become valid in respect of certain officials of Belarus since February 2. Meanwhile, many European politicians have urged the EU to impose not only the visa sanctions on Belarus, but the economic ones as well. Thus, EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, condemning «the repression of the Belarusian authorities against the opposition parties, civil society and journalists,» said that Brussels «should act more decisively» against the official Minsk.
