Washington/Brussels/Minsk – Western countries have adopted an aggressive stand over the hijacking of the aeroplane to Belarus to arrest journalist Roman Protasevich. On Monday, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union announced harsh sanctions against Belarus through a joint statement. The sanctions include the son of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko along with senior leaders, officials and companies. European Union claimed that these new sanctions would hit the Belarusian economy hard.

Last month, an airplane of the Ryanair company, travelling from Greece to Lithuania, was forced to land at the Minsk airport in Belarus. As a result, journalist Roman Protasevick and his co-passenger Sophia Sapega, travelling on the airplane, were detained by the Belarus agencies. It has been revealed that Protasevich was taken to prison and forced to confess. The West reacted strongly to this act of hijacking an airplane to arrest an opposing journalist.

Read more: http://www.newscast-pratyaksha.com/english/strict-sanctions-on-belarus-by-eu-us-canada-and-uk/