Lithuania's Foreign Ministry has proposed imposing sanctions against 118 Belarusian officials responsible for vote-rigging and violence against protesters.
"The Foreign Ministry has submitted an updated list to the Interior Ministry," Rasa Jakilaitienė, spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, told BNS on Wednesday.
Previously, the Foreign Ministry proposed blacklisting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and another 30 people accused of vote rigging.
Blacklisted persons would be banned from coming to Lithuania. The final decision should be made by Interior Minister Rita Tamašunienė.
"At least these people won’t be able to come here for shopping at Akropolis [mall] after beating people at home," Linkevičius said.
He added that the list of individuals subject to Lithuania's sanctions was not yet exhaustive.
Linkevicius said that European-scale sanctions against Belarusian officials would be more efficient, as they would also have their assets frozen.
Diplomatic sources have told BNS that the EU plans to propose sanctions against some 30 Belarusian officials, but the decision is expected in September at the earliest.
"I believe the scale has to be much bigger [...], because otherwise it will all look too symbolic," Linkevičius said.
EU foreign ministers plan to discuss the sanction issue during their informal two-day meeting in Berlin, which starts on Thursday.
Read more: EU to impose sanctions on Belarusian officials, says Lithuanian president
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