The EU's travel ban on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continues to be suspended

The EU agreed to prolong the suspension of a visa ban on Belarusian leaders Monday, in an effort to deepen ties with a country key to the bloc's future energy plans.

However, the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels did not invite Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to a May meeting between six former Soviet states to discuss energy issues.

Lukashenko was slapped with the visa ban in 2006 for alleged vote-rigging, but the EU froze those sanctions last year as a reward for his freeing of political prisoners.

The ministers decided to prolong the reprieve for nine months, despite continued concerns over rights in Belarus.

In a statement, the EU welcomed positive steps in Belarus, but said the bloc “continues to be concerned about the human rights situation ... and recent cases of violation.”

In turn, Belarus' foreign ministry gave a muted welcome to the move, but called for the lifting of all punitive measures.

“This decision will allow pragmatic dialogue between Belarus and the EU to continue,” Belarus' foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Popov said.

“At the same time, we firmly believe it is long overdue to proceed with a full lifting of all restrictions which hinder the development of normal relations between Belarus and the EU,” he added.

The EU said it was ready to deepen relations “subject to progress made by Belarus.” It said its decision to continue suspension of the ban was made to encourage “further concrete measures towards democracy and respect for human rights” in Belarus.

Source: Reuters