Belarus will take “proportional” measures after the European Union imposed asset freezes and visa bans Monday on President Alexander Lukashenko and 157 associates, the foreign ministry in Minsk said.
"It is not our choice to have tensions with the European Union. All the same, the EU’s decision obliges Belarus to take adequate and proportional measures… in order to strengthen Belarus’s sovereignty and to preserve stability" in the country, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement did not specify which measures might be taken.
EU foreign ministers imposed the sanctions in response to an opposition crackdown after a December presidential election.
The list included two of Lukashenko’s sons, Viktor and Dmitry, Belarus Defence Minister Yury Zhadobin and the head of the country’s secret police, Vadim Zaitsev.
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