A masked pro-Russian activist places a
self-proclaimed "Donetsk Republic" flag over the office of a bank owned
by a businessman who is considered to back the pro-western government in
Kiev Photograph: Efrem Lukatsky/AP
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Canada is getting into the act too. Reuters is reporting that two
Russian companies and nine individuals - to be named soon - will be
targeted.
Simon Ostrovky tweets about the project he was working on when he was seized.
The US announces sanctions against seven Russians close to
Vladimir Putin, including Igor Sechin, the head of state oil company
Rosneft. Seventeen Russian companies in construction and energy have
also been targeted. The EU has agreed to target 15 Russians who could be named tomorrow.
Russia expressed its disgust at the new measures.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia will respond
with moves that would have "a painful effect on Washington".
The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, is fighting for his life after being shot in the back by unknown gunmen.
Pro-Russian separatists have seized a police station in the eastern
city of Konstantinovka, 50kms south of the rebel stronghold of
Slavyansk. The police offered no resistance and allows the gunmen to
take over.
A US official says the observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been subject to abuse
while being held in the state security service building in Slavyansk,
and that Russia has done nothing to help them. Germany has asked Russia
to use its influence to secure their release.
BP says it intends to remain a long-term investor in
Russia's Rosneft, reports Reuters. "We are committed to our investment in Rosneft, and we intend to
remain a successful, long-term investor in Russia," a BP spokesman said. The company holds a 19.75% stake in Rosneft.
One investment guru is undaunted by the Ukraine crisis. Mark Mobius,
chairman of the Templeton emerging markets group, told Reuters it's a
good time to investment in Ukraine and Russia.
"Right
now our calculation is that reward is better than the risk for both the
Russian and Ukraine investments," Mobius told Reuters
in an interview in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
His emerging markets fund holds about $200m in Ukrainian stocks and $500m in Russian equities.
"Most of the assets and investments that we have in Ukraine are in
the western side, the non-Russian speaking side. The word we're getting
from the companies in which we invested is 'no big deal'. For Russia
prices have been really depressed, and the valuations are extremely
attractive."
Mobius envisioned a scenario in which "some accommodation (was)
reached between Ukrainian authorities and the Russians to move more
towards a federalist system, where the Russian speaking parts of the
country have some degree of autonomy".
Russia has threatened the US and the EU with a painful response, reports AFP.
"We will, of course, respond," Russian deputy foreign minister
Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency. "We are certain that this
response will have a painful effect on Washington."
He provided no
further details but stressed that Russia had a "broad range" of
options. Ryabkov said Washington's measures would only escalate tensions
around the culturally splintered ex-Soviet state.
"We are disgusted with the statement issued by the White House press secretary," said Ryabkov.
"Every word used by the White House press secretary in the
statement confirms that the United States has completely lost touch with
reality and is leading things toward an escalation of the crisis."
AP has a bit more on Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft. BP and ExxonMobil have major stakes in the Russian state oil company.
Igor Sechin, the president of
state oil company Rosneft, has worked for Putin since the early
1990s. Sechin was seen as the mastermind behind the 2003 legal assault
on private oil company Yukos and its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who
at the time was Russia's richest man. The most lucrative parts of Yukos
were taken over by Rosneft, making it Russia's largest company. Rosneft
has a major partnership deal with ExxonMobil.
A senior US official says that there is "broad belief" that
the OSCE military monitors
had been subject to abuse while being held in the state security
service building in Slavyansk, and that Russia has done nothing to help
them, writes Julian Borger, the Guardian's diplomatic editor.
In a briefing to provide the background on the new US sanctions on
Russia, the official said Slavyansk was becoming a mafia hub and a
"Bermuda triangle" in which growing numbers of people were disappearing.
Earlier today, the Russian foreign ministry said the German foreign
minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called his counterpart in Moscow,
Sergei Lavrov, to talk about the captive OSCE monitors but said nothing
about the outcome of the conversation.
The member states of the OSCE are holding an emergency session this afternoon to discuss the detention of the military monitors.
The US on Monday announced sanctions
on officials and companies linked to President Vladimir Putin's "inner
circle", accusing Russia of provocative acts and undermining democracy in Ukraine.
As
expected, the White House’s announcement included visa bans, asset
freezes and export licence denials on a panoply of top Russian officials
and firms as reprisal for the continuing destabilisation of eastern Ukraine. In a statement, the White House called Russian involvement in the Ukraine crisis “indisputable.”
Seven
Russian officials and two Putin confidantes will have their assets
frozen and a US visa ban imposed on them. Seventeen Russian companies
will also be subject to the asset freeze, with 13 of them subject to
what the White House called a “presumption of denial” on licenses for
export, re-export or transfer of goods or items from the US to them.
Among
the targets of the new sanctions is Igor Sechin, a long time Putin ally
who has been described as "Putin's lieutenant." Sechin worked under
Putin in the St Petersburg city hall in the early 90s. When Putin left
for Moscow, he took Sechin along with him.
Agence France-Presse has more on the EU end of sanctions. The 15 Russian and Ukrainian officials could be named tomorrow.
The EU agreed on Monday to impose sanctions on
another 15 Russian and Ukrainian individuals for their role in the
Ukraine crisis, diplomatic sources said.
The 15 will be subject to the same visa ban and asset freezes
imposed on more than 50 others as Moscow shows no sign of reversing
course in Ukraine, the sources said. The new names will be listed in the EU's official journal, likely on Tuesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the 28 member states'
ambassadors to the EU, who gathered to discuss the next step in
responding to the Ukraine crisis.
The measures fall short of the full-scale economic sanctions proposed
by Washington, which announced separately on Monday that it was taking
action against another seven Russian officials and 17 firms linked to
President Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
With far more extensive economic ties between many member states
and Moscow, the EU has balked at moving to tougher 'phase 3' sanctions
that would target Russia's economy as a whole, although leaders have
agreed to begin preparation of sanctions.
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