The European Union published a new list of Ukrainians and Russians targeted with sanctions for undermining Ukraine’s independence on Monday.
The new list was published on the Official Journal of the European Communities at 8.30 a. GMT – places restrictive measures on 19 people and 9 organisations (mainly separatist battalions and movements). The sanctions are due to come into effect immediately. The latest additions bring the total to 151 individuals and 37 entities.
The list includes Arkady Bakhin, Russia’s First Deputy Minister of Defense; Anatoly Antonov, Deputy Minister of Defense; Andrei Kartapolov, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces; Valery Rashkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ethnicity issues; commanders of armed separatist groups in the region (Pavel Dremov aka Batya; Alexey Milchakov aka Friz, Serbian; Arseny Parlov aka Motorola, Mikhail Tolstykh aka Givi, etc), representatives of the so called Donetsk, Luhansk people’s republics.
Soviet and Russian singer Iosif Kobzon, 77, who the EU has accused of making statements supporting separatists and voting in favor of the annexation of Crimea, is also on the list.
EU foreign ministers agreed the sanctions late last month after deadly attacks on the key port city of Mariupol killed more than 30 civilians but suspended their application as France and Germany led last ditch efforts to secure a Ukraine ceasefire.
EU leaders then decided at a summit Thursday to go ahead with the sanctions because, irregardless of the new peace effort, they were meant to punish those implicated in the Mariupol attacks.
Brussels first imposed targeted sanctions on individuals after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 but adopted tougher economic measures after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July.
