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The European Union (EU) on Tuesday imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Russian officials and six leaders of the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.
Catherine Ashton, EU Foreign Policy Chief, in Brussels listed prominent Russians to include Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of integrating Ukraine's Crimea region; Valery Gerasimov, Head Russian Armed Forces General Staff, and Igor Sergun, Head Secretive Military Intelligence Service.
Others are Oleg Belaventsev, President Vladimir Putin's personal envoy to Crimea and Oleg Savelyev, the newly appointed head of the Russian government's Crimea Ministry. It also includes leaders of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, Denys Pushylin and Andriy Purgin of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.
Ashton said she was alarmed by the worsening security situation and the downward spiral of violence and intimidation in eastern Ukraine. She demanded the immediate release of those being illegally detained by armed groups.
Ashton also called on Russia to take new concrete action in support of the Geneva accord signed on April 17 to de-escalate the situation.
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-declared mayor of the rebel-held city of Sloviansk, said in reaction to the sanction that the EU representatives also would be banned from entering the city.
The militants in Sloviansk are keeping dozens of hostages, including seven European military observers, who were detained in the city on Friday while on a verification mission under the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"If EU did not lift the sanctions, I will refuse "all access for them and for all. I will like to remind my guests from the OSCE of this."
The EU and the U.S. accuse Russia of fomenting the separatist unrest in Ukraine after the fall of the Kremlin-friendly government of president Viktor Yanukovych.
Catherine Ashton, EU Foreign Policy Chief, in Brussels listed prominent Russians to include Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of integrating Ukraine's Crimea region; Valery Gerasimov, Head Russian Armed Forces General Staff, and Igor Sergun, Head Secretive Military Intelligence Service.
Others are Oleg Belaventsev, President Vladimir Putin's personal envoy to Crimea and Oleg Savelyev, the newly appointed head of the Russian government's Crimea Ministry. It also includes leaders of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, Denys Pushylin and Andriy Purgin of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.
Ashton said she was alarmed by the worsening security situation and the downward spiral of violence and intimidation in eastern Ukraine. She demanded the immediate release of those being illegally detained by armed groups.
Ashton also called on Russia to take new concrete action in support of the Geneva accord signed on April 17 to de-escalate the situation.
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-declared mayor of the rebel-held city of Sloviansk, said in reaction to the sanction that the EU representatives also would be banned from entering the city.
The militants in Sloviansk are keeping dozens of hostages, including seven European military observers, who were detained in the city on Friday while on a verification mission under the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
"If EU did not lift the sanctions, I will refuse "all access for them and for all. I will like to remind my guests from the OSCE of this."
The EU and the U.S. accuse Russia of fomenting the separatist unrest in Ukraine after the fall of the Kremlin-friendly government of president Viktor Yanukovych.
