The EU decided to expand sanctions against Russia – RBC

Photo: Reuters/Pixstream

the EU agreed on a decision to impose new personal sanctions against Russia in connection with the “annexation” of Crimea.

the Finance Ministers of the European Union at the meeting on Tuesday, 8 November, agreed to impose new personal sanctions against Russia, reports Reuters. The basis for this decision was the “annexation” of Crimea, pointed out by the Agency.

“the Council adopted a new proposal in the framework of the restrictive measures concerning actions that undermine the territorial integrity of Ukraine”, — said at a press conference following the meeting, the Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic Peter Kazimir.

At this point in the so-called black list of the European Union 151 people and 37 organizations. The defendants in the list of banned entry to the EU territory and their assets in the bloc are frozen. The last time the EU extended the sanctions in September 2016 until 15 March 2017.

the EU does not recognize the annexation of Crimea to Russia, which was held in 2014 after the referendum, and call it “annexation.”

the Names of politicians, which the Ministers of the EU agreed to blacklist, were not disclosed, but last month the European Parliament in a research note noted that during the September parliamentary elections in Russia the state Duma passed the seven deputies from the Crimea and Sevastopol, of which only two (Natalia Poklonskaya and Mikhail Sheremet) are in the sanctions list of the EU. “It can create uncomfortable situation in the case of official meetings between the remaining five and MEPs who voted for the non-recognition of Crimea as part of Russia”, — noted in the memo. In early October, 36 MEPs wrote a letter to the high representative of the EU Federica Mogherini, which was asked to add in the sanctions list of state Duma deputies from the Crimea, which is not in the list.

“I can confirm that the EU Council adopted a decision on adding new individuals to the sanctions list in the framework of the EU restrictive measures against measures aimed at undermining the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”, — said the representative of the EU Council on foreign Affairs in response to the question RBC about the inclusion of the Crimean deputies.