EU imposes sanctions on Belarus and warns Turkey it may be next

EU LEADERS finally agreed yesterday to impose sanctions on Belarus before warning Turkey it faced the same punishment if it continued oil and gas drilling in disputed areas of the Mediterranean.

Cyprus had vetoed agreement on the sanctions, which do not affect president Alexander Lukashenko personally, until it was satisfied the EU’S condemnation of Turkey was strong enough.

The heads of state and government needed six hours of summit talks in Brussels to break an embarrassing deadlock that delayed EU sanctions for election-rigging in Belarus for a month.

In their summit conclusions, the 27 leaders warned Ankara it could face “immediate” sanctions if it persists with gas exploration in Cypriot waters.

The EU will now i mpose asset freezes and travel bans on about 40 members of Mr Lukashenko’s regime for rigging the Aug 9 election and cracking down on protests afterwards. The government in Belarus vowed to “respond to hostile actions”. It said it will impose visa bans on a number of EU officials and threatened to break off diplomatic ties with EU countries.

The foreign ministry said that it was recalling Belarus’s ambassadors in Poland and Lithuania for “consultations” and “advised” Poland and Lithuania to recall their ambassadors in Minsk as well. Poland and Lithuania, which in recent weeks hosted several prominent Belarusian opposition figures, were ordered to cut their embassy staff.

“Any attempts by foreign nations to force certain individuals or projects of governments in exile on Belarusian people are bound to fail,” the Belarus foreign ministry said. EU sanctions need the unanimous support of all 27 member states. The veto by one of the bloc’s smallest countries dented the credibility of the bloc’s foreign policy and delayed a promise to support prodemocracy protesters in Minsk. Britain and Canada have already imposed sanctions on Belarus, including on Mr Lukashenko himself.

Emmanuel Macron has already met with exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who recently urged the EU to impose sanctions in a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels. Angela Merkel will meet her in Berlin on Tuesday.

“The European Union is taking action against those who stand in the way of democracy,” the German chancellor said after fraught discussions in Brussels, “I think that is an important signal.”

Germany had pushed back against a tougher stand on Turkey, fearing it would disrupt efforts to cool tensions with EU member Greece and conscious of its status as a strategic partner.

‘The European Union is taking action against those who stand in the way of democracy’