Brussels, 13/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 12 May, the European Union imposed sanctions for the first time (in the context of the Ukrainian crisis) on two energy companies because they have been “confiscated” by the Crimean “authorities”. The two companies are the Chernomorneftegaz gas company and the Feodosia oil terminal. The two companies' assets have been frozen in the EU.
In an effort to enable the sanctions to go ahead, the EU has strengthened its legal basis. “Natural persons, undertakings or bodies in Crimea or Sebastopol, whose property has been transferred in violation of Ukrainian law, or natural persons, undertakings or bodies that have benefited from such a transfer” can now be subject to restrictive measures.
Europeans have also added 13 individuals to the list of people subject to sanctions. These include those deemed responsible for the annexation of Crimea, troubles provoked in eastern Ukraine and the organisation of the referendums on 11 May. The individuals have been sanctioned because they are “responsible for actively supporting or carrying out action or policies that compromise or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine or the stability or security of Ukraine, or that obstruct the action of international organisations in Ukraine”. The individuals or companies, undertakings or bodies associated with them could also be subject to sanctions.
Measures including the freezing of assets and visa bans therefore affect the first deputy chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin, who is charged with “supervising the political integration of the Ukrainian region of Crimea into the Russian Federation, following its annexation” and Colonel General Vladimir Shamanov, Commander of Russian paratroopers. The president of the committee of constitutional law at the Duma, Vladimir Pligin, who facilitated the adoption of the law on the annexation of Crimea and Sebastopol is also subject to sanctions. The Crimean Prosecutor, Natalia Poklonskaya and her counterpart for Sebastopol, Igor Shevchenko, are being added to the list because they took “an active part in carrying out the annexation”. The heads of the Crimean and Sebastopol sections of the federal migration service, Petr Jarosh and Oleg Kozyura, are also being targeted because they are “considered responsible for the systematic and accelerated awarding of Russian passports to inhabitants of the Crimea”.
The EU has also imposed sanctions on Roman Lyagin and Aleksandr Malykhin, the respective leaders of the central electoral commissions of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and for having taken part in the “active organisation” of the referendum on 11 May on the self-determination of these people's republics. The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Viacheslav Ponomariov, one of the heads of the self-proclaimed militia of Horlivka, Igor Mykolaiovych Bezler, and one of the leaders of the Armed Forces of the self proclaimed authority of the “People's Republic of Donetsk”, Igor Kakidzyanov, are also on the list. Oleg Tsariov, a member of the Rada, is subject to sanctions for having publicly called for creating the Federal Republic of the New Russia, consisting of southeastern Ukrainian regions. (CG)