The cash is to be spent on a mixed bag of programmes, including direct relief for victims of repression, NGOs, independent media and higher education for Belarusian students in exile, such as the European Humanities University in Lithuania.

"Perhaps the experience of Mr Ben Ali and Mr Mubarak will make Mr Lukashenko reflect that the path he has chosen is not the best for him personally," the Polish foreign minister said at the meeting, in reference to the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Mr Lukashenko, you are losing ... Sooner or later, you will a have to flee from your citizens and find shelter in a country that professes even lower standards than you do."

Speaking at an earlier press conference in Brussels on Monday, Mr Sikorski said EU foreign ministers reacted well to his proposal to create a permanent EU pro-democracy foundation to stimulate reform in neighbouring countries.

Recalling outside help for Poland in the run-up to the 1989 overthrow of the Communist authorities, he said: "He [any given Polish dissident] knew that if he was interned, someone would take care of his family. That if his car was taken, someone would help him to replace it."

"We Poles know how it's done. We have people who know how to do these things and I think the EU has recognised this."

Putting the €87 million figure into perspective, EU-Belarus trade is worth over €12 billion a year. Meanwhile, Russia, Belarus' number one trade partner, has declined to criticise it's on-off ally over last December's crackdown on opposition.

Monday's EU sanctions did not target Belarusian exporters Belneftekhim and Belaruskalii, in part due to concern over the impact on European companies.

The EU's asset freeze on 157 Belarusian officials also neglected to include Yuri Sivakov - a former official named in a US cable as Mr Lukashenko's bag-man in an international money-laundering ring that includes banks in Poland and the US.