EU eyes Belarus sanctions targeting sectors close to leader

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union nations sketched out plans for new sanctions Thursday against Belarus that will target economic sectors close to its authoritarian president, as they sought to strike back at him for the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Lisbon vowed to continue to ramp up the pressure on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — whose disdain for democratic norms and human rights has made his country a pariah in the West.

The latest plans for sanctions, which could target the country's lucrative potassium industry among others, comes after Belarusian flight controllers instructed a Ryanair jetliner’s crew to land in the capital of Minsk on Sunday, citing a bomb threat. No bomb was found, but 26-year-old journalist and activist Raman Pratasevich was pulled off the plane and detained. EU leaders have denounced the move as a state-sponsored hijacking, while Lukashenko has defended his actions and accused the West of trying to “strangle” his country with sanctions.

The EU has already advised its airlines to avoid the ex-Soviet nation's airspace and barred Belarusian carriers from EU airports and airspace. The 27-nation bloc has previously slammed Belarusian authorities with sanctions over the August election that handed Lukashenko a sixth term and that opposition groups have rejected as rigged as well as his ensuing crackdown on protests.

If the next batch of sanctions does not ease the crackdown on the opposition and democratic values, German Foreign minister Heiko Maas said the EU “will continue to look at what effects this has in Belarus, whether Lukashenko relents. If that isn’t the case we have to assume that this will be just the beginning of a big and long spiral of sanctions.”

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