According to him, authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko was the one hurting the Belarusian people most.
"This is what I see: reasonable sanctions must be imposed, they are really necessary, and it seems to me that the West knows very well what they have to do. As for moral sanctions - banning judges and prosecutors who work against the Constitution from entering civilized countries - I consider such sanctions fair but far from sufficient to make impact on the regime," Shushkevich told journalists on Wednesday.
"I am not an economist, but when they say that such economic sanctions are undermining lives of ordinary Belorussian people, well that istotal rubbish. The worst things to the Belorussian people are being done by Lukashenko," Shushkevich said during a round-table discussion of Belarusian opposition representatives in Vilnius.
He also noted the cancellation of the 2014 Men's World Ice Hockey Championship, to be hosted by Belarus, would be a really painful sanction for Lukashenko as he's a big fan of the game.
"The Ice Hockey Championship is a pleasure for Lukashenko, and we don't have to give him that pleasure. There have been previous decisions to cancel Ice Hockey Championship, it was moved to Finland when the 1968 invasion to Prague took place. It seems to me that this example is relevant," he said.
Belorussian border guards told Shushkevich on Sunday he could go to Lithuania as he was banned from leaving the country. But the opposition representative said he managed to solve the problem by travelling via Russia and Latvia.
"I was not allowed to leave Belarus, but we have the so-called union state with Russia, where there's no border. On the one hand, it's bad as Russia's influence is huge and things are less than good there. But on the other hand, it's good because you can go to Russia whenever you want, especially if you say that you're going to Moscow and instead take a ride to Latvia via Novopolock. I came by car," he said.
Shushkevich was leader of the Belorussian parliament in 1990-1993.
EU foreign ministers are scheduled to discuss increasing sanctions against Belarus on Thursday and Friday. According to reports, new sanctions might be levied against influential business peoples close to the ruling regime in Belarus.
