The European bloc does not recognize Lukashenko as president due to the rigged August elections and is trying to persuade him to engage in dialogue with the opposition. At the beginning of October, the EU countries agreed to punish forty leading officials of the Belarusian security authorities and the election commission, but Lukashenko was not among them.
While the Baltic countries and Poland in particular have pushed for its inclusion in the list, other states have rejected such a move on the grounds that it would complicate a possible dialogue.
However, the ruler of the country, in which tens of thousands of people regularly demonstrate for a new vote, still rejects the Union’s calls for new elections and the release of detained opponents. That is why, after more than two months of debate, the EU countries have agreed to add it to the list, which contains 59 names after Friday’s update.
In addition to Lukashenko, he was joined, for example, by his son and security adviser, Viktar Lukashenko, personnel chief of the President’s Office, Ihar Serhejenko, and Ivan Tertel, head of the secret police.
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