REUTERS

The European Union does not recognize presidential election results in Belarus, starting work on new sanctions against those responsible for falsification and a crackdown on protesters.

EU doesn't accept election results," European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted on Friday, August 14.

The Bloc begins work on "sanctioning those responsible for violence and falsification", the same tweet reads.

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In turn, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shared the news, praising the unanimous move by EU foreign ministers to work out "additional sanctions against those responsible".

"Europe must actively promote its values," she tweeted.

Read alsoUN condemns violent crackdown on Belarus protestsEarlier, RFE/RL correspondent in Brussels Rikard Jozwiak said EU top diplomats had agreed to draft new sanctions targeting Belarus authorities.

Belarus protests: developments

  • On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus.
  • The country's Central Election Commission announced the final election results. In particular, 80.1% of voters supported incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, 10.1% voted for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 1.67% for Anna Kanopatskaya, 1.2% for Andrey Dmitriev, and 1.14% for Sergei Cherechnya. Some 4.59% voted against all candidates.
  • On the evening of August 9, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to take part in spontaneous rallies, which was followed by clashes with law enforcement. The police in Minsk used water cannons, tear gas, stun grenades, and fired rubber bullets in a crackdown on protests.
  • Belarus' Ministry of Internal Affairs announced about 3,000 protesters were detained on the night of August 10, more than 2,000 people – on the night of August 11, and more than 1,000 – on the third night of the protests across the country.
  • One of the protesters had died, the ministry confirmed. As of today, August 14, there were reports about two deaths among protesters.
  • The UN has condemned violence and violation of human rights, a number of countries have called on Minsk to stop the atrocities.