EU blacklists 13 Ukrainians over crisis

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European Union, EU countries have blacklisted 13 Ukrainian “separatists” and five entities, amid uncertainty on what to do if the conflict escalates, reports EUoberver.
Ambassadors clinched the list in what EU sources described as “quick” and “easy” talks in Brussels on Thursday.
The visa bans and asset freezes are to enter into force on Saturday, when the bloc also publishes the names in its Official Journal.
The new designations are a direct response to what the Russia-controlled rebels called “elections” in the Donetsk and Luhansk “republics” in east Ukraine on November 2.
EU foreign ministers earlier this month said the votes are a violation of the so-called Minsk Protocol, a Russia-Ukraine peace accord, and increase the risk of a new frozen conflict in Europe.
The ambassadors on Thursday also discussed new ideas on “strengthening the EU's non-recognition policy of the illegal annexation of Crimea” by Russia in March.
They include an “enhanced ban on investments in Crimea”, but there is no decision yet.
The mini-sanctions come amid concerns that Russia might escalate the conflict before the winter sets in.
EU leaders have indicated they will expand economic measures if it does.
Ukrainian journal The Insider reported on Thursday, citing a Kiev source, that Russian president Vladimir Putin in a phonecall on Wednesday with Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko threatened violence unless he recognises the rebel republics.
Spokesmen on both sides have kept quiet about the call.
But Poroshenko told parliament on Thursday he rejects “federalisation” or making Russian into an official state language in Ukraine.
If there is bad news on the war before EU leaders meet for this year’s last summit in December, there is no guarantee of a forceful European response.
For her part, German chancellor Angela Merkel told the Bundestag on Wednesday that EU sanctions “remain unavoidable” if the ceasefire is abandoned.
But her foreign minister, from the Social Democrat party in the grand coalition, on Thursday warned against going too far.
“An economically isolated Russia, one that may face collapse, would not help improve security in Europe or in Ukraine, but would pose a danger to itself and others,” he told a seminar organised by the Suddeutsche Zeitung daily.
Some Nordic and eastern EU countries are more hawkish.
But the EU’s new foreign relations chief, Federica Mogherini, gave an insight into Italy’s thinking in a recent interview with Austria’s Kurier newspaper.
She said the EU and Russia need a “restart” in relations and that the part-Russophone regions in east Ukraine should gain “autonomy”.
Polish MEPs voiced upset at her words on Twitter.
But it later emerged the Kurier interview, published this week, took place before she took up her EU post on 1 November and reflect her point of view in her previous capacity as the Italian foreign minister.

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