EU sanctions Lukashenko, Belarus cronies

(BRUSSELS) - European Union foreign ministers imposed asset freezes and visa bans Monday on Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and 157 associates, in response to an opposition crackdown, a diplomat said.

The list included two of Lukashenko's sons, Viktor and Dmitry, Belarus Defence Minister Yury Zhadobin and the head of the country's secret police, Vadim Zaitsev.

However, the EU stopped short of imposing wider economic sanctions against the Belarus state, as called for by Sweden and Poland, because others did not want to make the people of Belarus pay.

The decision came after Belarus threatened reprisals, notably involving gas supplies, should suspended sanctions be extended.

The EU had held careful dialogue with Minsk in recent years and even suspended a travel ban on Lukashenko in 2008 in a bid to encourage democratic reform in the former Soviet state.

But the EU decided to reinstate the travel ban and impose an assets freeze after the regime rounded up protesters who cried foul following December presidential elections that saw Lukashenko re-elected.