The European Union on Monday slapped sanctions on five senior election officials in Crimea over their role in organising Russia's presidential vote in the peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. The five, all senior members of the Crimea Electoral Commission or the Sevastopol Electoral Commission, face travel bans and asset freezes in the EU, joining 150 other individuals on the EU blacklist.
They were sanctioned "because of their involvement in the organisation of the Russian presidential elections of 18 March 2018 in the illegally annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, thereby actively supporting and implementing policies that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the European Council said in a statement.
The individual sanctions are part of measures taken by the EU to punish Moscow for its support for pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which began in early 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.
Sweeping economic sanctions targeting the Russian oil, defence and banking sectors, imposed in summer 2014, were extended by six months in December.
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