EU sanctions hit Russian minister, senior Putin adviser and legislators

The European Union has slapped sanctions on Russia’s defence minister, a senior adviser to Vladimir Putin and hundreds of Russian legislators who voted in favour of recognising the independence of separatist areas in south-east Ukraine.

The sanctions, mostly a freeze on the assets of those listed and a ban on them travelling in the 27-nation EU, are the first steps in a planned series of retaliatory measures designed to be ramped up if the Russian president launches an attack or pushes troops deeper into Ukraine. They are expected to take effect later on Wednesday.

Mr Putin signed a decree recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent and appears to be driving Russia’s campaign against Ukraine, but he is not on the EU’s list even though the sanctions target those “involved in the illegal decision”.

The EU said under Mr Shoigu’s “command and orders, Russian troops have held military drills in the illegally annexed Crimea and have been positioned at the border. He is ultimately responsible for any military action against Ukraine”.

Mr Vaino was said to play “an active role in the Kremlin decision-making process by taking part in the Russian ‘Security Council’ and influencing the elaboration of decisions by the president in the field of Russia’s defence and national security”.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, Nikolay Yevmenov, is also on the list, as are foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan — who are both referred to as “a central figure of the government propaganda”.

The measures also hit banks that finance Russia’s armed forces. They target the ability of Moscow to access EU capital and financial markets and services, and ban EU trade with the two regions so that “those responsible clearly feel the economic consequences of their illegal and aggressive actions”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said the sanctions “will hurt Russia and it will hurt a lot”.

“Every time they implement sanctions against Russia, it does not make any sense and it’s worthless,” he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF on Wednesday. “Actually, we don’t give a damn about these sanctions.”

“It gives the impression that the authorities in Brussels are doing something,” he said. “In fact, they are doing nothing.”

Those sanctions already targeted Russia’s financial, energy and defence sectors, as well as goods that can be used for civilian and military purposes.

More than 190 people and almost 50 “entities” – which are organisations, agencies, banks or companies – had also been separately targeted by the bloc for “actively supporting actions and implementing policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.

More than 14,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.