EU expands sanction list against Russia, Ukraine

The European Union has added another eight people and three companies to the ‘blacklist’ against Russia and Ukraine, EU official journal said on Wednesday evening.
The sanction list included first deputy head of Russian presidential staff Aleksey Gromov, Governor of Northern Sea Route Bank Board Arkady Rotenberg, largest shareholder of bank Rossiya Yuri Kovalchuk and second largest stockholder of bank Rossiya Nikolai Shamalov.
The penalty list also included Chairman of the Supreme Council of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Boris Litvinov, spokesman of government in Luhansk People’s Republic Oksana Chigrina, Russia’s Crimea Interior Minister Sergei Abisov, Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev whom Kiev suspects of funding militia in east Ukraine.
Russian National Commercial Bank, air defense system-producing plant Almaz-Antey and air company Dobrolet were added to the EU ‘blacklist’.

So, the EU sanction list against Russia and Ukraine now already totals 95 individuals and 23 legal entities. All of them are banned from entering the EU states until November, if their assets are found in European banks they will be frozen and European businesses are banned to deal with legal entities on the sanction list.
Along with enlargement of the ‘blacklist’ against Russia and Ukraine the European Union has introduced a broad portion of additional sanctions against the Russian Republic of Crimea. Most new trade restrictions on Crimea will take effect starting from July 31, the EU official journal said.
New trade and investment restrictions were imposed within the EU strategy not recognising Crimea’s accession to Russia. These measures included a ban for European companies on new investments in infrastructure projects, transport, telecommunications, energy sector as well as oil and gas production and extraction of mineral resources in Crimea. Not only direct and indirect investments, but also insurance services for any projects in the above-mentioned spheres were banned.

New sanctions will be not retroactive and will be applied to future projects. All financial and technical actions under the contracts concluded before July 30 are permitted to continue until October 28.
The EU has also approved the list of categories of Crimean goods banned for trade. The list included almost all possible mineral resources and their derivates as well as hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, industrial products for their extraction - pipes and drilling equipment, including for offshore production were put on the sanction list. “Sea water and salt solutions” are on the top of this penalty list which has more than 250 positions.
It is still hard to say how real this new list of banned types of new Crimean projects will be for European business.

US, EU sanctions vs Russia over Ukraine
Western nations have subjected some Russian officials and companies to targeted sanctions, including visa bans and asset freezes, following Crimea’s accession to Russia in mid-March.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.
Western sanctions ‘counterproductive and unacceptable’ — Belarus Foreign Ministry
The West, led by the United States, has threatened Russia with further punitive measures, including economic ones, for incorporation of Crimea and what the West claimed was Moscow’s alleged involvement in protests of federalization supporters in Ukraine’s war-torn south-east.
Russia has repeatedly dismissed Western allegations that it could in any way be involved in protests in the south-east of Ukraine, which started after Crimea refused to recognize the authorities propelled to power during a coup in Ukraine in February and reunified with Russia in mid-March after some 60 years as part of Ukraine.