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       EU Sanctions Ex-Ukrainian President as Crisis in Crimea Continues

   by VOA News

   The European Union has frozen the assets of 18 high-ranking officials
   of the former Ukrainian government, including ousted President Viktor
   Yanukovych.
   The 28-nation bloc announced the names of those targeted by the
   sanctions early Thursday, after reaching a decision the night before to
   impose the punishments on those responsible for embezzlement of state
   funds.
   Yanukovych's son, his former justice minister and several other
   government ministers are also among those whose assets have been
   frozen. Yanukovych fled Ukraine last month after protests over his
   decision to accept an economic aid package from Russia turned deadly.
   Meanwhile, another round of international diplomacy aimed at easing the
   military crisis in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula will take place
   Thursday. Leaders of the EU nations will meet in Brussels to consider
   possible sanctions against Russia.
   ''
   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet again with
   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Rome Thursday. Kerry held a
   series of discussions with Lavrov, British Foreign Secretary William
   Hague and Ukranian interim Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia.
   Lavrov and Deshchytsia did not meet face-to-face during Wednesday's
   flurry of negotiations, and Kerry said he had not expected such a
   meeting to occur.
   Tensions in Crimea remain high just days after Russian forces moved
   into the peninsula. Robert Serry, the United Nations special envoy to
   Crimea, was forced to cut short his visit to the region when he was
   confronted by a group of unidentified gunmen.
   Western leaders have suggested the crisis could be resolved if Moscow
   pulls back its forces to their bases on the Black Sea and allows in
   international monitors.
   However, Lavrov said Wednesday Russia cannot order pro-Russian armed
   forces in Crimea, which he described as "self-defense" forces, back to
   bases, because they are not Russian forces. He said allowing
   international monitors into Crimea is not Russia's decision, but the
   decision of Ukrainian and Crimean authorities.
   Crimea is set to hold a referendum on its future status on March 30.
   Ethnic Russians make up nearly 60 percent of the peninsula's
   population.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-sanctions-exukrainian-president-as
   -crisis-in-crimea-continues/1865336.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/eu-sanctions-exukrainian-president-as-crisis-in-crimea-continues/1865336.html