Irish Foreign and Defense Minister Kovney: Belavia will be obliged to return EU aircraft
EU sanctions against Belarus will include a break leasing contracts with the state airline Belavia. Such details were disclosed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ireland, Simon Kovney, reports Reuters.
“The contracts under which the aircraft are leased to Belavia, in fact, will be broken,” the diplomat said. He noted that Minsk will be obliged to return these aircraft, otherwise there will be a trial.
In total, the airline's fleet includes 29 aircraft, 17 of which Belavia has leased.
Earlier EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that the fifth package of European Union (EU) sanctions against Belarus will soon be adopted, this time due to the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.
The migration crisis on the border of Belarus and the EU countries began after the president of the republic, Alexander Lukashenko, threatened to loosen control over the flow of refugees and drug trafficking. This happened against the backdrop of another aggravation of relations between Minsk and the West.