EU finally agrees sanctions on Belarus after month of deadlock

EU leaders finally agreed to hit Belarus with sanctions in the early hours of Friday morning 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 hit 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 has imposed asset freezes and travel bans on about 40 members of  Mr Lukashenko's regime for rigging the August 9 election and cracking down on protests afterwards.

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 pro-democracy protesters in Minsk.

Britain and Canada have already imposed sanctions on Belarus, including on Mr Lukashenko himself.

Emmanuel Macron said that Mr Lukashenko could still be targeted in the future. The decision not to hit him now was designed to encourage the authoritarian leader to engage in mediation, the French president said.

Mr 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 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.

“The European Union is taking action against those who stand in the way of democracy," the German Chancellor said after the 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.

Turkey is a Nato member and a candidate member to join the EU, although that process has long been stalled. Its agreement with the EU to host Syrian migrants on Turkish soil played a vital role in stemming the 2015 migration crisis.

The compromise struck at the summit that satisfied Cyprus was an agreement to review Turkey's behaviour in December and impose sanctions then if its "provocations" have not stopped.

Leaders offered Ankara the prospect of closer ties and better trade if it commits to "pursuing dialogue in good faith and abstaining from unilateral actions".

"The EU issues a clear threat of sanctions against Turkey should it continue to violate international law," Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said.

Previous EU warnings, and sanctions on individuals involved in the drilling, have done little to deter Ankara and the final statement falls some way short of the immediate action Nicosia had pushed for.

Before the summit, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a defiant note, telling his parliament that the EU had made itself a "hostage" of the "spoiled Greeks and the Greek Cypriot administration". He vowed to maintain his "determined approach".

Allegations of meddling by Ankara in the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh, where nearly 130 people have been killed in a flare-up between Armenia and Azerbaijan, further complicated the talks.

Mr Macron demanded Turkey explain what he said was the arrival of Syrian jihadist fighters in Azerbaijan.

"A red line has been crossed, which is unacceptable," he said, "I urge all Nato partners to face up to the behaviour of a Nato member."

The summit conclusions called for an immediate ceasefire in the region.

EU leaders also condemned the “assassination attempt” on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a military chemical nerve agent from the ʻNovichokʼ group.