SIMFEROPOL
The European Union on Monday sanctioned nearly two dozen Russians and Ukrainians deemed responsible for the breakaway referendum in Crimea that has fanned the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War.
Official results from Sunday’s disputed referendum showed 96.77 percent of voters in the mostly Russian-speaking region of Ukraine opted for Kremlin rule in what would be the most radical redrawing of the map of Europe since Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia.
Crimea’s lawmakers also declared the Russian ruble the peninsula’s second official currency and vowed to disband Ukrainian military units stationed across the region — a move that threatens to inflame the raging security crisis on the European Union’s eastern frontier.
Foreign ministers from the European Union responded by unveiling travel bans and asset freezes against 13 Russian officials and eight Ukrainian officials from Crimea, but did not identify them.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius tweeted that there would be “more EU measures in (a) few days”.
