The EU added six members of the Russian Federation State Duma elected from the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the list of persons subject to restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining Ukraine`s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, an UNIAN correspondent in Brussels reports.
”In line with its non-recognition policy, the EU considers that the persons who became members of the State Duma as a result of the elections in Crimea should be placed under sanctions,” reads the report.
”The Council therefore added the following six persons to the list of persons subject to sanctions: Ruslan Ismailovich Balbek, Konstantin Mikhailovich Bakharev, Dmitry Anatolievich Belik, Andrei Dmitrievich Kozenko, Svetlana Borisovna Savchenko and Pavel Valentinovich Shperov.”
These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban which will now apply to a total of 152 persons and 37 entities. The measures were introduced in March 2014 and were last extended in September 2016 until March 15 2017.
The legal acts, including the names of the persons and the statements of reasons for listing them, are available in the EU Official Journal of November 9 2016.
The Russian Federation organized elections for the State Duma on September 18 2016, including in the illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol. The EU has not recognized the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and therefore does not recognize the holding of elections in the Crimean peninsula.
