The Council of the European Union does not recognize Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula nor the parliamentary elections held in the Crimean peninsula last September. For these reasons, the Council of the EU has decided to implement restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine against six Members of the Duma (the Russian Parliament) elected to represent the Crimea and Sevastopol regions of Ukraine.

The restrictive measures, implemented by Council Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1955 of 8 November 2016 implementing Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 concerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, include freezes on any bank accounts that a person subject to the measures may have in the European Union, and travel bans.

The six Members of Parliament subject to the restrictive measures are: Ruslan Ismailovich Balbek, Konstantin Mikhailovich Bakharev, Dmitry Anatolievich Belik, Andrei Dmitrievich Kozenko, Svetlana Borisovna Savchenko and Pavel Valentinovich Shperov.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has thanked the EU Council for its action.

The text of the implementing regulation is available at the following LINK.

Pietro Michea