On the eve of the meetings of NATO Foreign and Defense Ministers, which will be held on June 1, the Euro-Atlantic Alliance decided to restrict access of Belarusian representatives to its headquarters in Brussels. The decision was made during the teleconference, Reuters reports.
Belarus is not a member of NATO but has had ties with the military alliance since 1992 following the fall of the Soviet Union, and has maintained a diplomatic mission to NATO since 1998. Thus, in response to the events in Belarus and the forced landing of a passenger plane by Minsk, NATO restricted the access of personnel at Belarus' diplomatic mission to the alliance's headquarters. Belarusian personnel can attend seminars and meetings at NATO and in NATO countries as part of a cooperation partnership that tackles issues such as arms control and military education.
"We have decided to restrict the access of Belarusian personnel to the NATO headquarters," Stoltenberg said at a news conference ahead of meetings of NATO defense and foreign ministers on Tuesday, without giving more details.
It's worth noting that the European Union has officially banned Belarusian airlines from flying over the territory of the EU member-states and called on all airlines to cancel flights over the territory of Belarus. It was also recommended to accelerate the introduction of sanctions against individuals and entities of Belarus after the incident with a Ryanair aircraft. The forced landing of a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius earlier this month by Belarus to arrest a dissident journalist caused outrage in the West.