345 Belarusian officials to be put on blacklist

The European Union is going to add 135 Belarusian officials to the blacklist.

The Council of the European Union adopted a regulation on Friday that paves the way for imposing additional sanctions against individuals and entities in Belarus which, as the EU thinks, are involved in violations of fundamental human rights in the country, RIA Novosti news agency learned from a representative of the EU Council press service.

“The adopted amendments expand the criteria for application of restrictive measures and the freezing of assets of persons responsible for serious violations of human rights, or the repression of civil society and democratic opposition, or support of the Lukashenka regime, thus, receiving benefits,” the agency learned from a source.

According to the information obtained by RIA Novosti from diplomatic sources, the EU considers a question on adding 135 civil servants to the list of Belarusian officials subject to the travel ban to the EU states and assets freeze measures.

Gunnar Wiegand, the Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE in the European External Action Service (EEAS), said Thursday at a meeting with relatives of political prisoners about a possible extension of sanctions against official Minsk.