Vice-President of the European Parliament: Economic sanctions are possible

Expulsion of the ambassador of Sweden from Belarus is "unreasonable and unjustified".

This was stated by the deputy head of the European Parliament Jacek Protasiewicz.

"Such actions by the Belarusian authorities show that they are not willing to take any real steps to improve situation with human rights and democratic freedoms in Belarus, and I regret that in the absence of reaction from the Belarusian authorities (on EU appeals to respect human rights ) any progress will not be achieved in the dialogue and relations between the EU and Belarus in the near future, and they will continue to follow the opposite way, including economic and other sanctions "- quoted RIA Novosti Protasiewicz.

Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament urged the Belarusian authorities to "put an end to all practices of violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms" and to release all political prisoners.

Foreign Minister of Sweden received notice of expulsion of its ambassador to Belarus on August 1. Commenting on the decision of the Belarusian side, a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Andrei Savinykh said: "Mr. Stefan Eriksson worked in Minsk for about 7 years. This is a long term. During all this time his activities were aimed not at the strengthening of relations between Belarus and Sweden but on their erosion".

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt called the accusations, addressed to Eriksson, baseless and said that his expulsion from Minsk is a serious violation of standards of international relations.

A similar assessment of the actions of Minsk gave Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy. She also said that the situation with the Ambassador of Sweden and possible responses by the EU will be discussed at the next meeting of the Committee on Political and Security Affairs in Brussels.