EU expands sanctions list 

BRUSSELS – The European Union has blacklisted an additional 19 individuals and nine entities for “undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” According to the February 16 announcement, among the 19 people who now will be under a visa ban and have their assets in the EU frozen are Russian First Deputy Defense Minister Arkady Bakhin and Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, as well as the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff of the armed forces, Andrei Kartapolov. Two Russian State Duma members, famed singer Iosif Kobzon and Valery Rashkin, were added because of their support of the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Kobzon was appointed honorary consul of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in Russia, and Mr. Rashkin is the founder of the civic movement Krasnaya Moskva-Patriotic Front Aid, which has organized demonstrations supporting the separatists. Fifteen separatists from the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics were also blacklisted. The Public Movement Novorossiya is among the entities listed, together with eight separatist fighting units, including the Cossack National Guard, the Sparta Battalion and the Somali Battalion. They will have their assets frozen in the EU. The EU list now includes 151 individuals and 37 entities in Ukraine and Russia. Brussels decided to add to its sanction list after the January 24 shelling of southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which killed at least 29 people. (Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL)