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<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-eu-announce-sanctions-folllowing-vote-in-ukraine/2014/03/17/3223799c-add9-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-eu-announce-sanctions-folllowing-vote-in-ukraine/2014/03/17/3223799c-add9-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sections </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democracy Dies in Darkness</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Security</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Russia recognizes Crimea’s independence, defying new U.S. and E.U. sanctions</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Crimeans vote to join Russia<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View Photos<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Residents of the Ukrainian peninsula turned out in large numbers for the referendum.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Karen DeYoung and</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Griff WitteMarch 17, 2014</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The international crisis over Ukraine escalated sharply Monday as the United States and Europe imposed sanctions on senior Russian political and military figures, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree recognizing the Ukrainian region of Crimea as an independent state.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Both actions were taken in response to Sunday’s referendum in Crimea, where a reported 97 percent of voters said they wanted to become part of Russia. The Obama administration said the vote was rigged and discounted it as illegal.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Putin’s decree, announced on the Kremlin Web site, was widely seen as a step toward the annexation of Crimea by Russia, a move that U.S. and European leaders have said would result in further punishment designed to cripple Russia’s economy.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What has become the most serious U.S.-Russia confrontation in decades showed no sign of abating Monday, and there was little indication that ongoing diplomatic efforts would succeed in finding a resolution.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beyond Crimea, Putin has defied Western demands that he stop military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders, end what the West has called destabilizing actions by pro-Russian provocateurs in Ukrainian cities and open negotiations with Ukraine’s interim government.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Monday, the day after Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine, President Obama announced expanded sanctions on Russian officials in the White House briefing room. (The Associated Press)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The West increasingly thinks Putin’s actions in Crimea are part of a larger plan to impose his will on Ukraine, a former Soviet republic whose pro-Russian president fled the country last month in the wake of popular demonstrations in favor of joining the European Union.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Further provocations will achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia,” President Obama said in a Monday morning statement announcing sanctions against seven Russian and four Ukrainian officials. The U.S. goals, Obama said, are “to isolate Russia for its actions, and to reassure our allies and partners” of American support.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The U.S. sanctions include asset freezes and travel bans on some of Putin’s closest aides. The European Union separately announced sanctions on 21 individuals, including several Russian military commanders. The European list did not include Kremlin aides.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A senior administration official said the White House would not respond to Putin’s decree recognizing Crimea as independent from Ukraine. Putin has scheduled a speech to the Russian parliament Tuesday morning.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eastern European nations bordering Russia and Ukraine have been especially alarmed by the Russian moves. The United States has sent additional military assets to Poland and Lithuania, and Vice President Biden is being dispatched to those countries to offer further reassurance.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American measures</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. sanctions were imposed on the basis of an executive order Obama signed 11 days ago and a new order Monday that expanded the sanctions’ reach to Russian officials.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“These are by far the most comprehensive sanctions applied to Russia since the Cold War,” a second administration official said. “Far and away so.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The United States and the European Union announced sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials over Crimea's vote to break away from Ukraine. The Post's Douglas Jehl, Scott Wilson and Anne Gearan explain the implications. (Jonathan Elker, Jeff Simon and Kate M. Tobey/The Washington Post)</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The second order enables the administration to take additional action if Russia does not deescalate the situation, said this official and others who held a conference call for reporters. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the details of the measures.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Far beyond the situation in Crimea or even Ukraine, the sanctions order potentially includes anyone who is “a senior official” in the Russian government, who is involved in “the arms and related material sector in the Russian Federation,” or who has operated “for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly,” any of the above.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The seven Russians initially targeted</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> include top Putin aides Sergei Glazyev</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and Vladislav Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, and leaders of parliament who have been outspoken in advocating Crimean annexation and belligerent policies toward Ukraine.</span></b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the sanctions, one U.S. official said, “all assets are frozen; no U.S. person can do business with them. .?.?. If they want to transact in dollars, for example, they will be unable to do so. They will be unable to send any money through the United States.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“More broadly,” this official said, “the people we designate will tend to find great difficulty in accessing financial services elsewhere in the world, particularly in Europe and the gulf.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ukrainians designated under the original executive order include two Crimea-based separatist leaders and ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. Another senior U.S. official emphasized that the measures were designed to block the “personal assets and wealth” of Putin “cronies.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the U.S. announcement Monday, some of the targeted Russians mocked the move.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I quite like the company I have found myself in,” Andrei Klishas, chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s Constitutional Legislation Committee, told the Interfax news service.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Leonid Slutsky, who heads a parliamentary committee on Eurasian integration, said, “I don’t have any accounts or real estate in the U.S., and as regard private visits, I’ll have to do without them.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Some Republican lawmakers criticized the administration’s measures as insufficient. Sen. John McCain (</b>Ariz.) called for “a far more significant response,” saying that sanctioning only seven Russians “is wholly inadequate at this stage.”<b> Sen. Ted Cruz</b> (Tex.) described U.S. policy toward Russia as “appeasement” and called for an expanded American military presence in Eastern Europe.</font></div></div>