Belarus Blasts EU Travel Ban

[Foreigner]

Wed Nov 20, 9:16 PM ET


MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Belarus criticized a European Union (news - web sites) travel ban on President Alexander Lukashenko and seven of his top ministers, and a top lawmaker promised retaliatory measures.



Foreign Ministry spokesman Pavel Latushko said Wednesday that the ban was an affront on Belarus' sovereignty that is "aimed at reviving the dangerous practice of settling political problems by force."


On Tuesday, every EU member but Portugal imposed the ban because of alleged human rights violations in the former Soviet republic. Portugal said it wants to try other ways to change Lukashenko's behavior.


In the days leading up to the ban, Lukashenko and other officials accused the United States of pressuring the EU. Foreign affairs committee chief Nikolai Cherginets said Belarus would take "adequate measures and we'll see for whom it will be worse."


He did not say what measures were being considered, although Lukashenko earlier had hinted he might relax Belarus' border vigilance. Illegal immigrants and drug traffickers from Russia and Central Asia often try to reach Western Europe via Belarus, which shares a border with Poland.