EU foreign ministers are expected to lift the majority of EU sanctions against Belarus when they meet at the end of February. The move follows a four-month suspension on assets freezes and travel bans against 170 individuals, including the country’s president Alyaksandar Lukashenka, and three companies. These restrictive measures date back to 2004 and were levied against Belarus for unresolved disappearances, its climate of political persecution and its other democratic shortcomings. Nonetheless, an arms embargo will remain in place, as will restrictive measures on four individuals believed to be responsible for the disappearance of four opposition figures in 2000.
