U.S., EU Slam Belarus ‘Piracy’ as Pressure Builds Over Arrest

Bloc imposes effective flight blockade after journalist arrest
Biden calls action ‘direct affront to international norms’

WATCH: European Union leaders kicked off the process for adding more sanctions against Belarus and imposed an effective flight blockade on the country. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Milda Seputyte, Alberto Nardelli, and Aliaksandr Kudrytski

May 24, 2021 at 8:26 PM UTC

Updated on

May 25, 2021 at 6:40 PM UTC

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European leaders, with U.S. backing, moved to impose additional punitive measures on Belarus over the forced landing of a Ryanair Holdings Plc jet and the arrest of a dissident journalist, even as French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the measures might not suffice.

“It’s piracy,” German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday in a Bloomberg webinar. “I’m really, really angry about what happened and we cannot accept activities like this in Europe.”