LUXEMBOURG, April 10 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Shishlo) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is banned from entering the European Union following a decision Monday by the foreign ministers of the union's 25 member states.
Lukashenko tops a blacklist of 31 Belarusian officials denied the right to enter the EU. The head of the State Security Committee, the justice minister, the prosecutor general, the speaker of parliament's lower house and the head of the presidential staff will also likely be included on the list, a source said.
EU foreign ministers will likely also decide on freezing the accounts of Belarusian officials abroad.
The European Union announced March 24 that it would impose sanctions against the country's leaders over the March 19 presidential election it condemned as flawed.
The EU foreign ministers are not considering imposing trade sanctions against Belarus, diplomatic sources in Luxembourg said.
Lukashenko, whom Washington has dubbed "Europe's last dictator", was reelected to a third term in the March 19 election with a massive 83% of the vote.
The Belarusian opposition denounced the elections as fraudulent, and staged a sit-in protest on central Oktyabrskaya Square in the capital, Minsk. The rally was broken up after a few days, as was a demonstration March 25 that saw hundreds arrested and, the opposition alleges, left at least one protestor dead.
Foreign election observations also condemned the elections. A delegation from the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose association of former Soviet republics, said the elections had been free and fair.
