EU, US visa bans would hit 13 leading Russians – report

BERLIN, Germany – Threatened US and EU visa bans over the Crimea crisis would hit at least 13 Russian political and business leaders, including the defense minister, secret service chief and head of Gazprom, German media said Friday.

EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels Monday, March 17, a day after a referendum in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking Crimea region, to look at possible targeted sanctions against named Russian officials, such as visa bans and asset freezes.

According to German newspaper Bild, the list of people to be targeted with visa bans includes at least 13 names, among them Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Federal Security Service (FSB) chief Alexander Bortnikov.

Energy giant bosses are also among the targets, the mass circulation newspaper said in an article to appear Saturday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources in Washington and Brussels.

Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller and oil giant Rosneft’s chief Igor Sechin would also face bans on travel to the European Union and United States, it said.

Sunday’s referendum has sparked the biggest East-West showdown since the Cold War and comes after Russian troops seized control of the Crimean peninsula days after the pro-Kremlin regime fell in Kiev last month.

Berlin has said the result of the vote is “irrelevant”.

Questioned about the Bild report, a foreign ministry spokesman told reporters Friday that discussions were under way and there was “no good reason to announce intermediate results.”

He said it was a question of showing a “clear, common position” by Europe. – Rappler.com