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Belarus to Impose Iron Curtain for Opposition

RIA Novosti

13:56 23/03/2012 MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has officially confirmed that Minsk would introduce an “iron curtain” on the country's opposition, following EU-backed sanctions against Belarusian officials, the Russia Today TV channel reported.

Belarus already banned twelve opposition activists and human rights advocates from leaving the country in the past few months. However, the country’s officials have denied the existence of a list of opposition activists that will be banned from leaving the country in retaliation to EU sanctions.

“We have not implemented it [the list] in full, but we will. They [opposition activists] give information on companies and people to the West and insist on the introduction of economic sanctions,” Lukashenko said in an interview with the Russia Today TV channel, broadcast in Belarus on Thursday.

The Belarusian leader said he was banned from entering the EU because of the opposition’s efforts.

The already frosty relations between the EU and authoritarian Belarus worsened in February, when members of the European Union temporarily recalled their envoys from Minsk for consultations. More than 200 Belarusian officials are blacklisted from entering the EU.

The foreign ministers of the European states are meeting on Friday in Brussels and are expected to impose a new batch of sanctions against Belarus, which will likely see 12 more Belarusian officials added to the list of those banned from entering the EU.