Switzerland has added more persons to the watchlist, aimed to prevent bypassing sanctions of the United States and the European Union, implemented because of Russian aggression in Ukraine, according to Ukraine Today.
Six persons whose names are now added were elected in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as new Duma (Russian parliament) deputies, Ukraine Today reported.
On November 17, the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) added to the sanction list the following persons: Ruslan Balbek, Konstantin Bakharev, Dmitriy Belik, Andrey Kozenko, Svetlana Savchenko, and Pavel Shperov.
From now on, they cannot bypass EU and U.S. sanctions through Switzerland. These ”lawmakers” were already added to the sanction list of the European Union – concerning violating territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Later they were also added to the U.S. sanction list.
Earlier, European Union finance ministers on November 8 agreed new targeted sanctions against Crimean officials, adding to restrictive measures adopted after Russia`s annexation of Crimea in 2014. These are the Crimean officials who were elected to Russia`s Duma.
A list of 151 people and 37 entities are already subject to visa bans and an assets freeze in the EU for their role in the annexation of Crimea or Donbas occupation by Russia.
