The European Union (EU) considers that the annexation referendums organized by Russia in Ukraine are “illegal” and “illegitimate”and the people who acted in your organization will be subject to sanctionsthe spokesman for the head of European diplomacy warned on Tuesday.
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“There will be consequences for all the people who participated in the organization of these illegal referendums and who supported them,” said Peter Stano, spokesman for the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, who added that “the sanctions are a decision of the Member States” of the block.
In addition to being illegal, these referendums are “illegitimate,” the spokesman said.
There will be consequences for all the people who participated in the organization of these illegal referendums and who supported them
Russia promoted the holding of referendums to decide the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia, in a gesture that generated outrage in Western countries.
These referendums have been held since Friday in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (in eastern Ukraine) and also in Kherson and Zaporiya (in the south).
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The G7 countries have already advanced their decision not to recognize the results of these referendums.
The EU has already adopted several rounds of sanctions against senior Russian officials since the start of that country’s military operations in Ukraine in February, and even measures to drastically reduce the import of Russian gas.
However, the holding of referendums on the annexation of Ukrainian territories to Russia and a veiled threat from Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the use of nuclear weapons prompted the EU countries to adopt new sanctions.
The restrictive measures must be approved unanimously by the 27 countries of the bloc.
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Earlier in the day, Luc Devigne, an official with the European External Action Service (the EU’s diplomatic system), had told a European Parliament committee that those responsible for the referendums would be punished.
They will be included in the lists [de sancionados] people clearly implicated in these referendums,” he said.
AFP
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