BRUSSELS, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - The EU Council’s Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) has agreed new economic sanctions on Crimea amid the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, an EU source told RIA Novosti on Monday.
“Coreper agreed on further measures restricting trade with and investment in Crimea and Sevastopol, as requested by the European Council on July 16,” the source said.
“These restrictive measures stop investment in certain sectors in Crimea and Sevastopol (creation, acquisition or development of infrastructure in the transport, telecommunications, energy sectors; investment in oil, gas or minerals exploitation),” the official said.
“They also prohibit the export of key equipment for the same sectors to Crimea and Sevastopol,” the source added.
Following the March referendum in Crimea that led to its reunification with Russia, the EU and the US have imposed several sets of targeted sanctions against a number of Russian officials and some entities, accusing Russia of escalating the crisis in Ukraine and violating the country’s territorial integrity.
The European Council has previously announced it would impose a ban on all imports from the Crimean Peninsula and the city of Sevastopol if goods do not carry a certification from Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday the Crimean peninsula is Russia’s territory, rejecting any possibility for any talks on its status. Lavrov added that «there have been no negotiations with anyone on Crimea, there are none now and there won’t be any."
The Russian Foreign Ministry previously called the «language of sanctions» counterproductive and said these measures would have a boomerang effect on European economies.
