WASHINGTON, March 13 (RIA Novosti) – An American bill to give financial aid to Ukraine and authorize sanctions against individuals blamed for destabilizing the country has moved closer to becoming law after passing a committee vote in the Senate on Wednesday.
Aside from increasing aid money to Ukraine, the measure would take further sanctions against people responsible for violence at recent anti-government rallies in the country.
The bill, whose text is not yet public, was approved by a vote of 14-3 in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Before becoming law, it must head to the Senate and House for a full vote before being signed by US President Barack Obama.
The measure is the latest move by the United States to respond to the ongoing crisis in Crimea, an autonomous majority Russian-ethnic republic in Ukraine where a referendum is to be held Sunday on secession and annexation by Russia.
Masked men the US insists are Russian troops have seized key infrastructure and military bases on the peninsula in recent weeks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the men are under the control of Moscow, calling them “local militia.”
Obama and the European Union announced a slew of visa bans and asset-freezing last week against individuals deemed responsible for violating human rights in Ukraine. Both threatened further measures if the Ukrainian political crisis failed to be resolved.
The US has also withdrawn from a summit of leaders of the G8 group of powerful democracies, scheduled to be held in the Russian city of Sochi in June.
