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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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06Mar14
U.S. Announces New Sanctions in Ukraine Crisis
The United States escalated its response to Russia's military and economic threats to Ukraine on Thursday, announcing it has imposed visa bans on officials and others deemed responsible for actions that have undermined Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The new sanctions, promulgated by the Obama administration, carried the threat of further steps. The announcement came as the European Union took its first steps toward punitive measures and as Secretary of State John Kerry met for a second day with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on ways to defuse the Ukraine crisis, one of the most serious East-West confrontations since the Cold War.
Russian officials reacted angrily and suggested that Russia would reciprocate with its own anti-American sanctions.
"The U.S. has the right, and we have the right to respond to it," Vladimir Lukin, Russia's human rights commissioner and a former ambassador to the United States, was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying. "But all that is, of course, not making me happy."
In Washington, President Obama said the new sanctions were intended to demonstrate that the world stands united against the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula this past weekend. "These decisions continue our efforts to impose a cost on Russia and those responsible for the situation in Crimea," he said.
Mr. Obama emphasized that they were taken "in close coordination with our European allies," in effect rejecting efforts by Russia to split the United States from its partners on the other side of the Atlantic. "I'm pleased our international unity is on display at this important moment," he said.
But he reached out to Moscow, calling for a de-escalation of the crisis by allowing international monitors into all of Ukraine, including Crimea, and opening talks between Russia and Ukraine. "There is a way to resolve this crisis that respects the interests of the Russian Federation as well as the Ukrainian people," he said.
Mr. Kerry also emphasized diplomacy in his remarks to reporters in Rome, saying the sanctions promulgated by the administration were structured to create the space for negotiations with Moscow.
"We want to be able to have the dialogue that leads to the de-escalation," he said after his meeting with Mr. Lavrov. "We want to be able to continue the intense discussions with both sides in order to try to normalize and end this crisis."
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said earlier Thursday in a statement announcing the sanctions that the visa ban would apply to those "responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." American officials said that meant the measure could apply to Russians as well as Ukrainians.
The new restrictions expand the visa bans that had already been imposed on those considered responsible for human rights abuses and political oppression in Ukraine in recent months, particularly in February when dozens of antigovernment protesters in Kiev, the capital, were killed by forces loyal to Viktor F. Yanukovych, the pro-Kremlin president who then fled for Russia. The interim government that took over is regarded by Russia as illegitimate.
In addition to the new restrictions, President Obama issued an executive order that provides the legal basis for imposing sanctions on "individuals and entities" who have undermined Ukraine's territorial integrity.
The restrictions also apply to those who have misappropriated Ukrainian assets or have asserted authority over parts of Ukraine without the approval of its government, a reference to officials in the Russian-populated Crimea Peninsula who claim that they have broken free of Ukraine and who are seeking Russian protection.
The sanctions under the executive order could include freezing assets or preventing Americans from doing business with certain individuals.
The executive order "is a flexible tool that will allow us to sanction those who are most directly involved in destabilizing Ukraine, including the military intervention in Crimea," the White House statement said, adding that it "does not preclude further steps should the situation deteriorate."
Mr. Kerry's discussions with Mr. Lavrov, a continuation of their talks in Paris on Wednesday, were held on the margins of a conference in Rome about how to support the Libyan government. Mr. Kerry also met with the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Italy and Britain.
Senior officials declined to say how many people would be affected by the visa bans or who they might be, but they emphasized that some existing visas would be nullified. Although the executive order paves the way for additional sanctions, no foreign entities were sanctioned under the measure on Thursday, a senior official said.
A block on visas is the easiest step for the Obama administration to take because it can be imposed immediately and at the sole discretion of the government. But Washington cannot publicly disclose the names of those who are subject to the ban, which limits its effectiveness. People would know that they had been barred only if they applied for a visa to travel to the United States or, if they already had a visa, if they were told it had been revoked.
The executive order would permit the government to go further. It would allow Washington to issue new visa bans that would let targets be identified publicly, and it could authorize asset seizures. But officials cautioned that it would take time to develop such financial measures because, unlike with a visa ban, they have to have evidence that could withstand a challenge in court.
The United States' European partners, who were meeting in Brussels, were told about the move in advance. Officials said that the measures had been planned for a while and were not set off by plans for Crimea to hold a referendum on March 16 on joining Russia.
The announcement, a senior official said, should prompt individuals in Russia and Crimea to wonder if they are going to "find their name on a list."
There was no immediate reaction from President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia after the White House statement was released.
Mr. Lavrov, meeting with journalists after conferring for 40 minutes with Mr. Kerry, expressed irritation and said he had been assured that the United States had no list of officials who would be targeted by the sanctions.
"I drew the secretary of state's attention to the fact that the incessant fanning up of the atmosphere continues, there are some secret lists of Russian citizens who will be forbidden entry to the United States," he said. "He assured me that these lists do not exist. There is only an instruction, but this does not change things. It is still a threat."
Mr. Lavrov also expressed regret about the suspension of activities in the Group of 8, the conference of leading industrialized nations of which Russia is a member, as well as the NATO-Russia Council.
"There are many one-sided, half-hysterical evaluations in the media," he said. "I repeated this to John Kerry, who seems to understand that it doesn't really help the flow of normal work. It's impossible to work honestly under the threat of ultimatums and sanctions."
A senior State Department official said that Mr. Kerry had again urged Mr. Lavrov to talk directly with the new Ukrainian government. "The two discussed possible formats for how that dialogue might take place," said the official, who cannot be identified under the protocol for briefing reporters.
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, hinted at one possible format: a "contact group" that would include Russia, Ukraine, France, and the United States, among other nations. Mr. Fabius said the idea of forming such a body and institutionalizing the negotiations over Ukraine had been discussed on Wednesday in Paris.
Russian business and finance circles have been nervous since Monday, unsure of what economically punitive steps the United States and the European Union might take, said Igor Y. Yurgens, a former Kremlin adviser who now heads the Institute of Contemporary Development, a Moscow research organization. He said the text in the White House statement was so broad that it was unlikely to directly affect most major Russian businesses.
Mr. Yurgens said there was less at stake in the trade relationship with the United States, which amounts to $40 billion a year, and that many were braced for a European Union meeting scheduled for Friday, where member states may formulate their own sanctions. "Then it's $600 billion, and that's existential," he said.
In Brussels, the 28-nation European Union announced measures to freeze the assets of Mr. Yanukovych, and of 17 of his closest aides and family members, holding them responsible for the embezzlement of state funds.
The European Union also took the first steps towards more serious and concrete diplomatic and economic sanctions against Russia by immediately suspending talks on a wide ranging political and economic pact and on visa liberalization, which would have made it easier for Russians to travel to Europe.
European Union leaders also laid out a three-stage process that could end in wide ranging economic sanctions if the Russians failed to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and work towards a diplomatic solution.
But there was no hard timetable for more punitive action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been reluctant to move quickly towards sanctions, said the European Union was looking for concrete evidence that Russia was trying to calm down the situation in Ukraine "in the next few days."
[Source: By Michael R. Gordon, Ellen Barry and Alissa J. Rubin, The New York Times, 06Mar14]
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