European Union leaders break deadlock to impose sanctions on Belarus

The European Union imposed sanctions against Belarus on Friday in a bid to pressure President Alexander Lukashenko to hold a fresh election.
 

The EU follows the U.K. and Canada in taking action against the regime, saying that the Aug. 9 election that saw Lukashenko reelected was neither free nor fair and condemning the regime’s violence against peaceful protesters and arbitrary arrests.
 

EU leaders agreed to impose asset freezes and travel bans on 40 Belarusian officials during late night talks at a summit in Brussels. But Lukashenko himself wasn’t on the list, raising questions about how much influence the EU will