EU set to suspend sanctions against Lukashenko

BRUSSELS: The EU is ready to suspend sanctions against Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko after he released the country’s last political prisoners, European sources told AFP Friday, two days ahead of elections in Belarus.
A decision will be taken before October 31, when the measures expire and must be either renewed or scrapped, they said.
But the decision will hinge on incident-free elections on Sunday and a peaceful aftermath, one source said. The Belarussian strongman is expected to win a fifth consecutive term.
”This is a gesture in response to the gesture made by the regime when it freed the political prisoners this summer,” an EU diplomat told AFP.
The sanctions entail travel bans and asset freezes against Lukashenko and around 170 other individuals and 14 groups.
A European source said the suspension would be a “political signal” to Lukashenko, who was once a close Russian ally but has since played Brussels off against Moscow in pursuit of his own interests.
Another EU diplomat said the 28-nation bloc would be looking closely to see if Sunday’s elections pass off without incident and in an “acceptable climate.”
”That means, if there are no new arrests of opposition figures, if there is no violence and no attacks against the press,” said the diplomat who asked not to be named.
In Prague, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said that if conditions were right, there would be “a serious review of sanctions.”