The United States, European Union, Britain and Canada have joined forces to slap sanctions on Belarus over the hijacking of a passenger plane.
The countries have imposed asset freezes and travel bans on a number of officials linked to the forced diversion to Minsk of a plane travelling between two EU countries last month.
Raman Protasevich, a dissident journalist, was arrested during the hijacking by the orders of Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko.
In a statement released Monday night, the four countries said they are committed to support the long-suppressed democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus and will stand together to impose costs on the regime for its blatant disregard of international commitments.