MINSK, April 10 (RIA Novosti) - Banning Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and other senior officials from entering the European Union is an insult to the dignity of the Belarusian people, Russia's ambassador in Minsk said Monday.
"I do not understand this measure, which produces no effect but insults the dignity of the state and its people," Alexander Surikov said.
The foreign ministers of the EU's 25 member states decided Monday to impose sanctions against Belarusian leaders over the March 19 presidential election they condemned as flawed. Lukashenko, who Washington has dubbed "Europe's last dictator," was reelected to a third term with a massive 83% of the vote and now 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 are also included on the list.
The ambassador said contacts between the two countries' economic and parliamentary structures and ministries would continue.
"Demonstrating hostility to a man who hold this or that post has nothing to do with promoting democratic principles," Surikov said.
