The European Union has imposed sanctions on dozens of Belarusian officials following accusations that they fixed the country's recent presidential election.

EU leaders wanted to punish officials sooner but the imposition was held up by Cyprus, which stated it wouldn't back action until Turkey had also been sanctioned for undersea drilling work in disputed waters off its coast. 

A resolution was at last reached on Thursday evening after the EU promised Cyprus it would penalize Turkey if the country continues its drilling, which enabled the bloc to at last take punitive action against Belarus.

European Council President Charles Michel spoke to reporters after hosting a meeting in Brussels. "We have decided today to implement the sanctions," he said. "It's very important to do what we decided a few weeks ago," and to send a signal that "we are credible."

As well as being accused of falsifying election results, Belarusian officials have also been censored for leading a crackdown on peaceful protesters who gathered in their thousands to voice their discontent at what they believe was a fixed election.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko hasn't been sanctioned but Michel said the EU will continue to "follow the developments" in the country in the coming weeks and could take action against him if he continues to refuse to talk to opposition leaders.

In response to the sanctions, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) released a statement vowing to implement reciprocal measures against EU nations. 

The statement read: "Belarus has always opposed, in words and deeds, confrontation. We are for dialogue and understanding. But being a sovereign state, we will respond decisively, though with regret, to the unfriendly actions in order to protect our national interests."