EU fails to agree on Belarus sanctions

The foreign ministers of the European Union's 27 member countries failed to agree on sanctions against Belarusian officials at a meeting on Monday.

The proposed sanctions were to be imposed on a list of Belarusian officials including President Alexander Lukashenko. The measures were being considered in response to the election that saw Lukashenko elected to a sixth term in office.

Cyprus, which insisted the EU should impose sanctions on Turkey for a gas exploration dispute, blocked the decision to go ahead with the move. The issue has now been postponed until the summit due at the end of this week, Russian state news agency Tass quoted a source in a European country's delegation to the EU Council as saying.