The European Union is going to lift sanctions against the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and his entourage. This is reported by Reuters, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. There has been no official confirmation of this information.

According to Reuters sources, the decision to lift the restrictions will be made next week. Visa and financial sanctions will be lifted from most of the approximately 200 people against whom they were imposed. With regard to Lukashenka, who was called "the last dictator of Europe", the ban on entry into European countries will be lifted.

The lifting of sanctions is associated with Lukashenka's decision to pardon six political prisoners, including one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, former presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich, who was convicted of organizing mass riots. The pardon for the oppositionists was announced on August 22.

“We want to give a direct answer to those who made the release of prisoners possible. The release of political prisoners was one of our main demands,” said a source involved in the sanctions discussion.

Reuters

EU sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko and his entourage have been in force since 2011. They were introduced shortly after the presidential elections in Belarus in 2010 - on the voting day, opposition supporters held a mass protest, which was brutally suppressed by the police.
in an interview with Bloomberg In April 2015, Lukashenka stated that he was no longer "Europe's last dictator". “There are dictators worse than me, no? I am now the lesser evil,” said the President of Belarus.

The EU is going to lift sanctions from Lukashenko