BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/04/2006

Belarus Urges EU to Drop Sanctions

Belarus dismissed proposed sanctions against it by the European Union (EU) as "groundless" on Saturday and urged the bloc to drop the restrictive measures.

"We told our European partners that their policy towards Belarus is groundless and useless," Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Popov said, quoted by Russian news agencies, two days ahead of a European Council meeting in Luxembourg that is expected to consider restrictive measures against some Belarussian officials.

"Such short-sighted actions are ineffective. They aggravate mutual relations, not help improve them," Popov said.

Belarus calls on the European Union to "give up such irresponsible actions, which hinder the development of normal relations," he added.

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who was re-elected with 83 percent of the vote in the March 19 election, was sworn in on Saturday for a third term in office.

The European Union and the United States branded the poll as rigged. The European Parliament has called for travels bans on Belarussian officials, a freeze on their assets and restrictive measures against companies directly linked to senior Belarussian officials.

Source:

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/04/09/191@74895.htm