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Romania supports the adoption of several sanctions against the regime in Belaurs, amid the recent increased repression of protests in Minsk, Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said on Monday, before the meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council (CAE) in Brussels, according to Agerpres.
"On Belarus, we welcome the recent entry into force of sanctions, which we very much supported, but this is not enough. We see an intensification of the repression from the regime of the protesters, including this weekend. We don't see the slightest intention for the regime to start a dialogue with the opposition. Dialogue within a prison cell, as it happened two days ago in Minsk, is not an appropriate dialogue with the opposition. So we support more sanctions, we have joined a group of other Member States asking for more people listed [list we those subject to sanctions - editor's note], including Mr Lukashenko. Romania asked already at the end of August the inclusion of Mr Lukashenko on the list of sanctioned people and, if the situation gets even worse we need to consider even more sanctions, perhaps economic sanctions targeting the resources of Mr Lukashenko," said the head of Foreign Affairs.
Aurescu reminded that, as a sign of solidarity [with Poland and Lithuania - editor's note], Romania decided on Friday to recall for consultations the Romanian ambassador in Minsk, Viorel Mosanu, a decision that comes into force on Monday, October 12th.
Ten days ago, Belarus recalled its ambassadors from Vilnius and Warsaw, following European sanctions against Belarusian officials accused of electoral fraud and human rights violations. In addition, Minsk has called on Lithuania and Poland to reduce the number of diplomats stationed in Belarus.
Belarusian authorities accuse Lithuania and Poland of supporting the protests that rocked Belarus after the August 9th presidential election, which was challenged by the opposition and which Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years, claims to have won.
