European Union foreign ministers debated new economic sanctions on Belarus, including on airlines, to halt what Brussels says is a deliberate policy by Minsk to fly in thousands of migrants and send them across the border.
The sanctions proposal, first voiced by Latvia on Monday in Luxembourg, was not initially on the agenda for EU foreign ministers and may have been a response to a decision by Belarus to expel France’s ambassador at the weekend, diplomats said.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after the EU meeting there would be further talks in coming days, Euractiv reported.
“We will put more pressure on the airlines that bring people from various locations to Minsk, from which they are brought, with the support of the ruler there, to the borders,” he said.
