BRUSSELS — The
EU on Monday imposed sanctions on eight officials accused of targeting opponents of
Russia’s seizure of Crimea, ahead of a visit to Kiev by the bloc’s top officials.
اضافة اعلان
“The persons added to the EU sanctions list include law enforcement officials — judges, prosecutors and security officers — responsible for enforcing Russian law in the illegally-annexed Crimea and Sevastopol,” the EU said in a statement.
“Those individuals have taken biased decisions in politically-motivated cases, and prosecuted or oppressed opponents of the illegal annexation.”
The officials included the head of the FSB intelligence agency in Crimea as well as judges and investigators on the peninsula, and a military prosecutor in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
The latest additions mean the 27-nation bloc has imposed visa bans and asset freezes on 185 individuals and 48 entities over the Russian takeover of Crimea and Moscow-backed insurgency in east Ukraine since 2014.
Rights groups have accused the authorities of a sweeping crackdown on those opposed to Russian rule in Crimea — including the Crimean Tatar community.
The announcement of the sanctions comes a day ahead of a meeting in Kiev involving European Council head Charles Michel and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky.
Brussels is keen to show it remains a key backer in the face of the festering conflict in the east of the country and worries in Kiev that the EU is losing interest in
Ukraine.
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