MINSK: The Baltic states on Monday banned embattled Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko while he cracked down further on the opposition movement following a huge rally at the weekend.
EU members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced entry bans against Lukashenko and 29 other high-ranking officials, citing human rights violations.
The sanctions from Minsk's ex-Soviet neighbours came after the third weekend of mass protests since a disputed presidential election on August 9, claimed by both Lukashenko and opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has taken shelter in Lithuania.
"We are sending the message that we need to do more than just issue statements, we must also take concrete action," Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told AFP.
The Belarusian foreign ministry said the sanctions would be counterproductive.
"The history of our independent country shows eloquently that any attempts at sanctions on Belarus only lead their initiators to the opposite effect," ministry spokesman Anatoly Glaz said in a statement. But Belarus would be "obliged to take appropriate retaliatory measures," he warned. "We will patiently wait for the moment when common sense prevails in the heads of our partners."
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