The European Union council has decided to extend travel sanctions on 175 persons who the Council considers that they continue to undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.
Travel sanctions, previously effective for 190 persons, have been extended for 175 of them until March 15, 2020, for six more months, alongside with the freezing of assets for 44 entities based on the same reasons.
A press release of the EU Council announcing the decision notes that the restrictive measures in regarding the actions of persons and entities threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine were first introduced on March 17, 2014, and have continuously been extended since then.
“Other EU measures in place in response to the crisis in Ukraine include economic sanctions targeting specific sectors of the Russian economy, currently in place until January 31 2021, 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 June 23 2021,” the Council explains.
It also adds that the list of sanctioned persons and entities are kept under constant review and subject to periodic renewals by the Council.
Aside from the individual restrictive measures as asset freeze and travel restrictions, the EU has also imposed other types of restrictive measures:
- diplomatic measures
- restrictions on economic relations with Sevastopol and Crimea
- economic sanctions
- restrictions on economic cooperation
Among those banned from entering the Schengen Area and the EU members is also Denis Valentinovich Berezovskiy who is currently Deputy Commander of the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Federation and Vice-Admiral.
On March 2014, Berezovskiy was appointed commander of the Ukrainian Navy, but he later swore an oath to the Crimean armed forces, breaking his oath to the Ukrainian Navy. He has also served as the Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation until October 2015.
Another restrictions that the EU has imposed as a part of sanctions regarding the annexation of Crimea in 2014, is refusing to grant Schengen visas to Crimeans who received their passports after the annexation of the peninsula.
Since July 2019 the EU decided not to grant Schengen visas to Crimea passport holders that obtained them after the annexation and in which Crimea figures as a part of the Russian Federation.