The leadership of Belarus has a few days to release the detained protestors in Minsk, otherwise the U.S. will renew sanctions. This statement was made by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Nancy McEldowney in Vilnius in the evening on January 14.
«We say that if detainees are not released in the near future, we will have no choice but to consider them as political prisoners. This will imply renewal of sanctions, having been suspended for some time,» «Narodnaia Volia» quotes Nancy MakEldoni.
At the request of the journalists to clarify the terms, she replied that it was «a matter of days.»
According to Nancy McEldowney, EU and U.S. seek to pursue a coordinated policy towards Minsk. There is a travel ban and freezing of bank accounts for certain officials among the sanctions, that could be resumed by Brussels and Washington.
As Telegraf previously reported, the European Parliament intends to adopt a resolution on the situation in Belarus at its plenary session in Strasbourg on Monday, Jauary 17. As stated by Dmitri Muratov, the editor in chief of Russia’s «Novaia Gazeta» after talking with the authors of the draft document, the resolution provides «unprecedented» sanctions against the Belarusian authorities.
