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EU Prepares 'Clear Message' For Belarus

August 10, 2012

by RFE/RL

EU officials have met in Brussels to discuss Belarus, hinting at the end of their meeting that more sanctions could be imposed on Minsk soon.

The meeting came after Belarus last week expelled Sweden's ambassador "for being too supportive of human rights," though some suspected the expulsion came because of a publicity stunt in early July that saw teddy bears carrying freedom-of-speech messages dropped over Minsk by planes that came from Sweden.

Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland said the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador "will not help to end Belarus's isolation from the rest of Europe."

EU Political and Security Committee Chairman Olof Skoog said a "very clear message" would be sent to Minsk.

"There is going to be a very clear message to all Belarus ambassadors around Europe in the next few days expressing full solidarity with the Swedes on this," Skoog said.

Skoog said Brussels stood beside Sweden in the diplomatic dispute with Belarus.

"This is not a situation merely between Sweden and Belarus," he added. "It is a situation that has erupted due to the decision by Belarus, which affects the EU's relation with Belarus."

Reviewing Sanctions

There was speculation ahead of the August 10 meeting that the EU might announce it was recalling all its ambassadors from Belarus.

EU officials did not make such a move at the meeting, but Skoog indicated the EU could take further action against Belarus later this year.

"We will be reviewing sanctions, restrictive measures against Belarus later on in the next few months," he said.

"As you know, the situation as to the political prisoners, the repression against civil society, and the lack of democracy in Belarus is a determining factor in restrictive measures against that country, Skoog added.

"And certainly the latest [incident] -- and this is the way it is going to be spelled out in the next few weeks -- the decision against the Swedish Embassy will, of course, also have an effect on how we discuss our relations with Belarus."

The EU has already imposed a series of sanctions on Minsk for its crackdown on members of the Belarusian political opposition.

In January 2011, the EU reinstated a travel ban against Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka after the government detained scores of opposition supporters in the wake of disputed elections and banned some 250 Belarusian government and court officials from traveling to EU countries.

Minsk Invites Swedish Pilots

Meanwhile, the Belarusian State Security Committee called on the Swedish pilots who flew across the border into Belarus last month and dropped teddy bears and leaflets supporting Belarusian dissidents to come to Belarus for questioning.

The committee is investigating the violation of the border and teddy bear airdrop.

At least two people have been detained and later fined in Belarus and some top border officials, including the chairman of the State Border Guard Committee, Major General Ihar Rachkovski, and the commander of the country’s air forces, Major General Dzmitry Pakhmelkin, were fired over the incident.

The committee said the Swedish pilots could fill in some gaps in information about the incident, such as who in Belarus was involved in planning and carrying out the teddy-bear drop.

The committee said it would guarantee the rights of the pilots if they came to Belarus.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, ITAR-TASS, and Interfax

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/eu-diplomats-in-crisis-talks-over-teddy-bear-incident/24672898.html

Copyright (c) 2012. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.