Russia: EU adds 6 members of the State Duma from Crimea to sanctions list over actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity

The EU added 6 members of the Russian Federation State Dumaelected from the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the list of persons subject to restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.

The Russian Federation organised elections for the State Duma on 18 September 2016, including in the illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol. The EU has not recognised the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and therefore does not recognise the holding of elections in the Crimean peninsula.

In line with its non-recognition policy, the EU considers that the persons who became  members of the State Duma as a result of the elections in Crimea should be placed under sanctions. The Council therefore added the following six persons to the list of persons subject to sanctions: Ruslan Ismailovich Balbek, Konstantin Mikhailovich Bakharev, Dmitry Anatolievich Belik,  Andrei Dmitrievich Kozenko, Svetlana Borisovna Savchenko and Pavel Valentinovich Shperov.

These sanctions consist of an asset freeze and a travel ban which will now apply to a total of 152 persons and 37 entities. The measures were introduced in March 2014 and were last extended in September 2016 until 15 March 2017.

The legal acts, including the names of the persons and the statements of reasons for listing them, are available in the EU Official Journal of 9 November 2016.

Several EU measures are in place in response to the crisis in Ukraine including:

·         economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the  Russian economy, currently in place until 31 January 2017;

·         restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, limited to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, currently in place until 23 June 2017.

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