EU diplomats have agreed to list a Russian deputy defence minister, despite a new peace initiative by the German and French leaders.
Member states’ ambassadors in Brussels agreed the new blacklist on Thursday (5 February) in reaction to Russia’s recent offensive in south-east Ukraine.
Sources said it names one of Russia’s deputy defence ministers, two senior defence ministry officials, and two MPs, one of whom was a described as a “senior” figure in the political elite.
The list also names 14 Ukrainians involved in the Russian campaign and nine entities. One of the entities is based in Russia, while the rest are also in Ukraine. They are said to be non-commercial entities, such as the battalions or self-proclaimed political entities involved in the conflict.
The more hawkish EU countries had proposed more senior names, including: Sergei Shoigu (defence minister); Grigory Karasin (deputy foreign minister); and Sergei Ivanov (the head of the presidential administration).
But doveish member states, led by Greece, haggled them down.
“It wasn’t a big fight. It was more like a carpet bazaar: Some states bid high and others bid low, but everybody knew we’d end up somewhere in the middle”, one EU diplomat said.
A second diplomat noted: “What’s important is that we managed to maintain EU unity, not what was discussed in the corridors”.
The new visa bans and asset freezes are to be adopted by EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Brussels on Monday and will enter into life when published in the EU’s legal gazette - the Official Journal - most likely on Tuesday morning.
The new sanctions come despite French president Francois Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel's surprise announcement they will go to Kiev and Moscow on Thursday and Friday to try to broker a ceasefire.