President Lukashenko: photo - belarus.gov.by
Belarus has also recalled its ambassadors from Brussels and Warsaw, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry has said.
Belarus foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said: "it has been suggested [that the EU and Polish diplomats] return to their capitals for consultations to communicate to their leadership the firm position of the Belarussian side that pressure and sanctions are unacceptable".
The EU foreign ministers agreed to imposing travel restrictions, Monday, on 21 judges and policemen in protest at deteriorating human rights under the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said this afternoon on his reaction to the move from the Belarusians: "The natural reaction, I think, is probably to pull our ambassador out of Minsk."
Head of Poland’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, Grzegorz Schetyna, said "We are counting on the solidarity of the European Union [and] the solidarity of ambassadors of EU countries [in Minsk]," he told reporters.
He added that all EU diplomats should now leave Belarus in order to demonstrate "elementary solidarity."
"As we stand in solidarity with all Belarusians, with those who are sitting in prison, who live there and are repressed, so EU countries should now show solidarity with the Polish and EU ambassadors,” he said.
On Monday, the EU council said of the new sanctions against Belarus: “Against the background of the further deterioration of the situation in Belarus, the Council today strengthened restrictive measures against those responsible for the crackdown on civil society in that country.
The Council added 21 persons responsible for the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition in Belarus to the list of those targeted by a travel ban and an asset freeze.”
Protest
Meanwhile, several Polish NGOs have called on the Belarussian authorities to release opposition activist Syarhey Kavalenka from prison.
Last Friday, a court in Vitebsk sentenced him for two years in prison and one month of a penal colony for violating the terms of the earlier court verdict.
Kavalenka was originally sentenced in January 2010 to three years of ‘limited freedom’ for ‘illegally displaying the banned Belarussian national flag’ in a public place.
He says his case is politically motivated. Kavalenka has lost at least 25 kilograms while on hunger strike since his arrest.
The appeal by Polish NGOs, including the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation, the Belarussian Historical Society, the Free Belarus Initiative and the Stefan Batory Foundation, says that Syarhey Kavalenka should be freed immediately and provided with the necessary medical treatment. (pg/mk)