REUTERS
The EU decision on lifting most of the sanctions against Belarus came into force on Saturday, February 27, as stated in the Official Journal of the European Community, Russian news agency TASS reported.
The EU agreed that sanctions would be extended for a period of twelve months against four Belarusian security officers being accused of organizing persecution of the opposition. They include former Interior Ministers Vladimir Naumov and Yuri Sivakov, former Security Council Secretary Viktor Sheiman and Former Head of the Special Response Group at the Ministry of Interior Dmitry Pavlichenko. In addition, the arms embargo also continues to apply. Thus, the EU's restrictive measures have been lifted against 170 individuals, including President Alexander Lukashenko, and three companies.
The political decision to abolish the restrictions, which had been in force for more than 13 years, was adopted by Foreign Ministers of 28 EU countries at a scheduled Foreign Affairs Council meeting on February 15.
"The release of all the remaining political prisoners on 22 August 2015 was a long sought step that the EU had consistently called for. In response to the releases and the presidential elections of 11 October 2015 that were held in an environment free from violence, and taking into consideration the overall state of EU-Belarus relations, the Council agreed in October 2015 on a four-month suspension of most of the restrictive measures," the Council said in its statement.
The EU imposed its first block of visa sanctions against Belarus and its president in 2002 in connection with human rights violations.