{"id":693,"date":"2021-06-02T12:21:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-02T09:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/?p=693"},"modified":"2021-06-02T12:21:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T09:21:32","slug":"nato-chief-backs-belarus-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/nato-chief-backs-belarus-sanctions\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO CHIEF BACKS BELARUS SANCTIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EU Obeserver<\/a>. 2 June 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Below is an article published by EU Observer<\/a>. Photo:nato.int.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western allies reiterated plans to punish Belarus for a recent air hijack after Nato foreign ministers held video-talks on Tuesday (1 June).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we need now is an independent investigation and \u2026 to see that the journalist and his companion that were arrested during the landing of the plane, they have to be released,\u201d Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also welcome that Nato allies implemented sanctions, and also of course the measures and the sanctions agreed by the European Union. So there\u2019s a clear message, a united message from Nato, on this issue,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke after a Belarus warplane forced down an EU passenger plane last month to kidnap a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EU closed off Belarus airspace in reaction and both Europe and the US are preparing to impose sanctions on Belarus oil and fertiliser firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nato ambassadors already spoke out on the incident last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turkey intervened to water down their joint communiqu\u00e9, according to diplomats who spoke to the Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Belarus trolled Nato over the Reuters report on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to the information we have, Turkey really opposed the adoption of such a statement. If so, then we are grateful to Turkey for such a position and approach,\u201d Belarus foreign minister Vladimir Makei said, Turkish media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have always been honest with all partners. We also supported Turkey during the [2016] attempted coup, and we have absolutely close, friendly relations with this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for his part, Stoltenberg brushed aside the episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe North Atlantic Council [Nato ambassadors] last week agreed a strong statement [on Belarus],\u201d he said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nato HQ in Brussels has also restricted access to Belarusian military and diplomatic personnel, who used to come for seminars on issues such as arms control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The air incident raised tension in Europe ahead of a Nato summit and a US-Russia summit later in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia, on Monday, said it was forming 20 new military units in the country\u2019s west on grounds of countering Nato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Nato is conducting large-scale naval war-games in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal and in the Black Sea in a show of strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Nato summit statement is likely to paint a picture of an ever-more threatening global environment, Stoltenberg indicated this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen more Russian military presence in the High North, in the Barents Sea, and in the Baltic Sea, Kaliningrad, the Black Sea, and also down to the Mediterranean and Middle East,\u201d he said on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are there to prevent conflict and war. But the best way of doing that is to send a clear message to any potential adversary that if one ally is attacked, the whole alliance will be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rise of China also poses serious challenges,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have the largest navy in the world already, and they are investing heavily in new modern capabilities, including hypersonic weapon systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd then, China is not sharing our values. They don\u2019t believe in democracy. They don\u2019t believe in the freedom of speech and the freedom of media. We see how they oppress minorities like the Uighurs, and crack down on democratic opposition in Hong Kong and also how they coerce neighbours, and how they threaten Taiwan,\u201d Stoltenberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU Obeserver. 2 June 2021 Below is an article published by EU Observer. Photo:nato.int. Western allies reiterated plans to punish Belarus for a recent air hijack after Nato foreign ministers held video-talks on Tuesday (1 June). \u201cWhat we need now is an<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}