BRUSSELS (AP) — Ambassadors of the European Union’s countries have agreed to add 11 new names to the list of people sanctioned for participating in the pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine’s east, an EU source said Wednesday.
The EU has already imposed asset freezes and travel bans on 61 people and two companies for participating in the armed rebellion against the Ukrainian government or Russia’s occupation and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, which both the EU and the U.S. have condemned as illegal and refused to recognize.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to make public statements on the matter, said the decision would be implemented through formal written procedure by the end of this week. She did not disclose the names of any of the people targeted.
Earlier in the week, a diplomat suggested that some of the proposed sanctions targets may be Russian officials but the bulk will likely be leaders of the pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
EU leaders at a June 27 summit in Brussels threatened more sanctions if the Russian government and pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine did not swiftly take a number of actions, including the launch of “substantial negotiations” on a peace plan proposed by Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko.
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