Borrell Demanded Promptly Introducing Economic Sanctions against Belarus

“A strong reaction should follow when the plane is hijacked to detain one of the passengers,” Borrell said. One of the possible measures he considers depriving Belarus of revenues from the transit of Russian gas to the EU. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Josep Borrell on Thursday, May 27, urged the EU member states not to hesitate in deciding on economic sanctions against Belarus. After the incident with the forced landing of the Irish airline Ryanair in Minsk and the subsequent detention of journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, the EU should "take measures, the weight of which will be felt for Lukashenko," Borrell emphasized on the sidelines of an informal meeting of foreign ministers of the countries - EU members in Lisbon. According to the diplomat, the European Union in this situation needs to show that it is "ready to use the language of force." Closure of EU airspace for Belarusian airlines The Ryanair incident became one of the main topics of the EU summit in Brussels on 24 May. As a result, sanctions were agreed, including, among other things, a ban on the use of the airspace and EU airports for Belarusian airlines. Also, the EU Council called on European airlines to avoid flights over the territory of Belarus. "After hijacking the plane to detain one of its passengers, a strong reaction must follow," Borrell said on May 27. "I don't think it takes a long time to decide on it. If we want to, we can act quickly." Possible EU sanctions against Belarus The head of the EU diplomacy mentioned that one of the possible sanctions against Minsk could be a change in the routes of transporting Russian gas to Europe. “We can imagine that the gas that enters Europe through Belarus will continue to flow to Europe, but through a different pipeline,” Borrell said. In his opinion, the loss of income from gas transit would become very sensitive for Belarus. Nevertheless, according to Borrell, it is not worth waiting for the final decisions on the issue of sanctions against Minsk to be taken during the meeting of foreign ministers of the EU member states in Lisbon.