BRUSSELS, MAY 24 - We do not tolerate Russian roulette being played with the lives of civilians ": said the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, presenting the sanctions against Belarus for the" scandalous event that happened yesterday ". The EU response" is at the height of the offense ", he added.
The EU has adopted sanctions against Belarus
, including a ban on Belarusian airlines from flying into European space, and calls on European companies to avoid Belarus' airspace.
He also calls on the High Representative to submit
proposals for new economic sanctions
, and calls for the
immediate release of Roman Protasevich and his fiancée
.
The conclusions adopted by the 27 EU leaders also call for
an urgent investigation by the ICAO
, to shed light on the "unacceptable and unprecedented" incident. As regards sanctions, the Council is asked to identify "as soon as possible" new persons and entities that will be affected by
restrictive measures, including economic ones
. Finally, the leaders express their
solidarity with Latvia
for the "unjustified" expulsion of its diplomats.
After the debate on Belarus, European leaders moved on to discuss the
Russia dossier
. It is learned from European sources in Brussels, according to which all electronic devices have been removed from the room for safety. "The EU condemns Russia's illegal, provocative and destabilizing activities against the EU and its member states", reaffirms "solidarity with the Czech Republic, supports its response", and asks the high representative of foreign policy to present within the summit a report on options in EU-Russia relations in June This is what we read in the conclusions of the EU summit released after the debate on relations with Moscow.
The issue of migration is also on the agenda, which however "has not been dealt with in substance" but "more heads of state and government" of the EU have asked to "return to the issue" at the next European summit based on EU "responsibility" on this matter. This was reported by the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the end of the first day of work of the summit. Responding to a question from a Spanish journalist, Michel also stressed that during the brief exchange on migration between EU leaders "European solidarity with the Spanish authorities was reaffirmed" on the situation in the enclave of Ceuta, reiterating that "the borders Spanish are European borders ".