Tens of thousands of Belarusian citizens have throughout the week, been engaged in protests against President Alexander Lukashenko following his disputed re-election on August 9th.

EU Foreign Ministers have approved possible sanctions in response, not only to the election result, but the brutal suppression of protesters amid reports of beatings and mistreatment of those arrested.

John O’Brennan is Professor of European Politics at NUI Maynooth. He joined Sean Defoe on the show to discuss the situation