In a statement he complained about the current “reprisals and terror” of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko against civil society and the opposition. There had to be “massive counter pressure” from the EU – but sanctions had to be imposed “with surgical precision”, he demanded. “We have to (…) take care not to hit civil society”, emphasized the Foreign Minister. From an Austrian point of view, “a two-pronged approach is still needed: Austria fully supports the sanctions imposed by the European Union against the Belarusian regime. At the same time, Austria is committed to a sustainable and inclusive dialogue with the Belarusian civilian population,” the letter said.
“The sad climaxes roll over”
The Foreign Minister also recalled that “the sad climaxes are emerging” at the moment: He mentioned the death of the Belarusian activist Vitaly Schischow in Ukraine, the beginning of the trial against the opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova and the “attempted removal” of the sportswoman Kristina Timanovskaya after one Dispute with sports officials on the sidelines of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Ultimately, the sprinter traveled to Warsaw via Vienna on Wednesday with a humanitarian visa from Poland.
Schallenberg also referred to the regime’s most recent “inhuman strategy of instrumentalizing refugees and migrants in order to use them as weapons against the EU. We as the EU cannot accept that – Austria stands by Lithuania’s side in solidarity, of course”. In this context, the Foreign Minister announced a visit to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border on August 24th together with his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis.
In the Baltic EU country Lithuania, several hundred migrants have illegally crossed the border from neighboring Belarus in the past few weeks. According to official information, around 3,500 people have been apprehended at the almost 680 kilometer long border with Belarus this year. Vilnius accuses Lukashenko of smuggling people in – in revenge for the EU sanctions against the autocratic leadership in Minsk. Lithuania receives border surveillance support from the EU and individual member states. Austria recently sent 13 officers from the Cobra special unit to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. The EU interior ministers are planning a special video conference for August 18th because of the situation.
