Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on
Monday called for fresh elections in Belarus after last month's
poll, widely viewed as rigged, that led to the confirmation of
long-time President Alexander Lukashenko.
Di Maio said Italy was "very concerned" about the situation in
Belarus and urged new elections there "complying with the
highest international standards".
He said the EU was set to issue sanctions targeted at
individuals held responsible for "the violence and falsification
of results".
The EU also gave its full support to internal dialogue between
Lukashenko and the opposition, Di Maio said.
He said he had passed on these messages in a phone call he had
requested with his Belarus opposite number Vladimir Makei.
Unidentified masked men snatched the leading Belarusian
opposition figure, Maria Kolesnikova, from the street in the
centre of the capital, Minsk, on Monday and drove her away in a
minivan, witnesses told local media.
Kolesnikova was one of the campaign partners of the opposition
candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against
the long-ruling president, Alexander Lukashenko, in disputed
elections on 9 August.
Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has rejected
international calls to hold fresh free and fair elections.
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