Four Ukrainians added to EU blacklist

EU foreign ministers extend travel bans, approve financial support to Ukraine and authorise suspension of tariffs.

Four Ukrainians believed to have embezzled large sums from the Ukrainian state have been added to a list of former officials and family members barred from entering the European Union.

Assets that they hold in the EU will also be frozen.

The decision was approved today (14 April) by foreign ministers from the EU’s 28 member states. The names of those added to the blacklist have not been disclosed. The sanctions will come into effect when the names are published tomorrow in the EU’s Official Gazette.

A previous list of 18 Ukrainians subject to EU sanctions included nine members of four families in the circle around the ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, including Yanukovych and his two sons. The other families included former prime minister Mykola Azarov and his son, the former head of Yanukovych’s presidential administration, Andriy Kliuiev, and his brother, and Viktor Pshonka, the former prosecutor-general, and his son. Five others sanctioned were former ministers.

Separately, the EU’s foreign ministers today approved two measures intended to support Ukraine’s economy. One measure increases the EU’s financial support to Ukraine by €1 billion, to €1.6bn. The support, which comes in the form of loan guarantees, is part of a broader package of international support put together by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and conditioned on Ukraine’s implementation of wide-ranging reforms.

The ministers also gave their formal backing to a proposal by the European Commission to remove import tariffs on a wide range of agricultural, industrial and other goods. The measure has already been approved by the European Parliament. The removal of import tariffs is temporary, but would become permanent when and if the Ukrainian government signs a free-trade agreement with the EU. The deal is ready for signing, but the EU and Ukraine agreed last month to defer signature. It is likely to be signed once presidential elections are held in Ukraine on 25 May.

The EU’s foreign ministers will make another declaration on Ukraine at the end of their meeting today, setting out their assessment of and possible response to the seizure of around a dozen towns in eastern Ukraine by armed groups. In a statement issued yesterday, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, did not attribute the unrest directly to Russia.

The United States has already stated that it believes Russia is behind the capture of government buildings in eastern Ukraine.

The EU imposed two sets of limited sanctions after Russia captured the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. The US has gone further, targeting some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest aides and one bank.

After Crimea’s annexation by Russia, both the EU and the US warned Russia that they could impose further sanctions if it did nothing to “de-escalate” the crisis. The US’s ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, yesterday said that US sanctions could be targeted at the Russian energy, banking and mining sectors. “And there’s a lot in between,” she added.