EU imposes Crimea-related sanctions on five persons involved in Russian State Duma elections

The European Union has imposed Crimea-related sanctions on five more people for taking part in the September 2021 elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

“The Council adopted today restrictive measures, within the existing sanctions framework, on five more individuals for actively supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The persons designated today are members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, who were elected to represent the illegally-annexed Crimean peninsula and the City of Sevastopol on 19 September 2021, as well as the head and deputy head of the Sevastopol electoral commission,” reads the press release published on the website of the Council of the EU.

It is underscored that the European Union does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, and continues to condemn the Russian violation of international law. Moreover, the EU remains unwavering in its support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.

EU restrictive measures regarding the territorial integrity of Ukraine now apply to a total of 193 persons and 48 entities. Those designated persons and entities are subject to an asset freeze – including a prohibition on making funds available to them - and, additionally, those persons are subject to a travel ban, which prevents them from entering or transiting through the EU.

As noted, these designations are not linked to the current security situation.

The relevant legal acts, including the names of the persons concerned, will be published in the Official Journal.

As reported, restrictive measures regarding actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine were first introduced on 17 March 2014. Since then, they have been regularly extended. The last extension covers the period until 15 March 2022.

Other EU measures implemented in response to the crisis in Ukraine include economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy, currently in place until 31 July 2022 and restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol, limited to the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol and currently in place until 23 June 2022.

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