Belarus bans citizens from foreign travel

Belarus has temporarily banned all its citizens from traveling outside of the country, attributing the move to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The BBC reports that the travel ban applies to all residents except for Belarusian civil servants on official trips, state transport staff and residents with permanent residence in other countries.

Foreigners may only leave the country after a 10-day period of self-isolation.

This decision comes shortly after the plane that opposition reporter Rama Pratasevich, 26, and his girlfriend were on was diverted over Belarus and both were detained in Minsk, Belarus’s capital city.

The BBC notes that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, 66, has come down hard on opposition within Belarus following the disputed August election. His main opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who fled to Lithuania, has claimed victory over Lukashenko.

Tikhanovskaya’s foreign affairs adviser, Valery Kovalevsky, spoke out against the ban on Twitter, the BBC notes.

Kovalevsky tweeted that Lukashenko had “severely limited the right of Belarusians to travel, asserting that certain grounds (residency abroad) aren’t sufficient to leave Belarus.”

“Yet the Constitution stipulates no conditions at all. Outright violation of the law,” Kovalevsky added.

The harsh authoritarian style with which Lukashenko rules has led many international observers to refer to him as “Europe’s last dictator.” Lukashenko has held on to power in Belarus since being elected to the presidency in 1994.

International outcry has broken out against Lukashenko after the Pratasevich arrest. The Biden administration announced last week that it planned to reimpose sanctions on Belarus in response to the arrest.

The Group of Seven (G-7) has also threatened to issue further sanctions against Belarus

“This action jeopardized the safety of the passengers and crew of the flight. It was also a serious attack on the rules governing civil aviation. All our countries, and our citizens, depend on every state acting responsibly in fulfilling their duties under the Chicago Convention so that civil aircraft can operate safely and securely,” the G-7 said in a statement.

“We call on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to urgently address this challenge to its rules and standards,” they added.