Seven non-EU European countries have lined up with the EU in sanctions imposed on Belarus in response to a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests sparked by the controversial August presidential election.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement on November 20 that the seven countries include EU candidates: North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Ukraine.
Alyaksandr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, has faced protests almost every day demanding his resignation since the August 9 presidential election, which the opposition says was rigged and rejected by Western powers to accept them, as the Radio Free Europe reports.
Several protesters have been killed and thousands arrested since authorities declared Lukashenko the winner of the election.
There have also been credible reports of torture by the regime aimed at suppressing the protests.
Most of the country's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to flee the country.