On Sunday, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko crossed a new red line: under a false premise, his regime forced a commercial flight en route between two EU capitals to land in Minsk in order to arrest a high value political refugee. At their scheduled summit yesterday, Monday, EU leaders demanded the immediate release of Roman Protasevich and Sofia Sapega, his partner; called for an investigation by the International Organization for Civilian Aviation; and agreed to impose more targeted economic sanctions on Belarus. Further steps will include measures to ban Belarusian airlines from EU airspace and airports.
At our special expert event prepared on short notice, we will discuss the EU response so far: What should the aim of EU action be, and what will be the likely effect of its current measures? What was possible Russian involvement, and how should the EU respond to the evolving relationship between Russia and Belarus? And what about the larger Belarus crisis which is turning into a permanent challenge for the EU on its borders - what further EU measures could increase the price tag for the regime without adversely affecting and alienating Belarusian society?
Please join us in discussing the topic with:
Manfred Huterer, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Belarus
Andras Racz Senior Fellow, DGAP
Sarah Pagung Associate Fellow, DGAP
Slawomir Sierakowski Senior Fellow, DGAP
Chair: Roderick Parkes, Research Co-Director, Head of the Alfred von Oppenheim Center for European Policy, DGAP
Please register for the event here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the online discussion.
The event will be held in English on Zoom. Participants will be able to contribute via audio throughout the discussion. You will find information related to data processing at https://dgap.org/en/zoom. Please note that this event will be recorded.
For any questions, please contact Yulia Loeva (loeva@dgap.org).