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Ukraine crisis EU imposes sanctions over Crimea | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The EU has agreed to impose travel bans and asset freezes against 21 officials from Russia and Ukraine. | |
The move follows Sunday's referendum in Crimea, in which officials say 97% of voters backed breaking away from Ukraine and joining Russia. | |
The so-far unnamed individuals targeted by the sanctions are seen as having played a key role in the referendum, which Kiev, the US and EU deem illegal. | |
Pro-Russian forces have been in control of Crimea since late February. | |
Moscow says the troops are pro-Russian self-defence forces and not under its direct control. | |
The crisis follows the ousting on 22 February of Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych, who had sparked months of street protests by rejecting a planned EU trade deal in favour of closer ties with Moscow. | |
The EU announced its new sanctions after a meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels. | |
Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevic tweeted that further measures were expected to be taken in the next few days. | |
Monday's sanctions came hours after Crimea's parliament declared the region an independent state, following Sunday's controversial referendum which officials say overwhelmingly backed leaving Ukraine. | |
The government in Kiev has said it will not recognise the results. | |
Russia earlier proposed the formation of an international "contact group" to mediate the crisis and seek changes in the constitution that would require Ukraine to uphold military and political neutrality. | |
But the authorities in Kiev have dismissed the proposal as "absolutely unacceptable", Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebynis told Interfax Ukraine news agency. | |
Meanwhile, the parliament in Kiev has formally approved the partial mobilisation of 40,000 reservists and says it is monitoring the situation along the eastern border with Russia. |