President Obama on Monday confirmed that the United States and the European Union were planning new economic sanctions against Russia for Moscow's alleged involvement in the eastern Ukraine.
Speaking in Philippines, where Obama is visiting as part of an Asia-Pacific tour, he said the sanctions are not aimed directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin, but was intended to "change the calculus" on the affects any new moves by the Kremlin might have on the Russian economy. The full list of new sanctions was expected to be announced later Monday.
According to The Associated Press:
"Obama said the targets of the sanctions would include high-technology exports to Russia's defense industry. The full list of targets will be announced by officials in Washington later Monday and are also expected to include wealthy individuals close to Putin.""The European Union is also planning more sanctions, with ambassadors from the bloc's 28 members to meet Monday in Brussels to add to the list of Russian officials who have been hit by asset freezes and travel bans."
Meanwhile, on the ground in eastern Ukraine, armed militants seized yet another government building, while the mayor of that country's second biggest city was shot.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports from Donetsk that: "Masked separatists armed with automatic weapons stormed the main government building in Kostyantynivka, taking over city hall and other administrative offices. The town is near Slovyansk, where separatists are holding European military monitors captive," she reports.
The building houses the city hall and the city council in Kostyantynivka, just 100 miles from the Russian border, the AP reports. The news agency says it was seized by masked men armed with automatic weapons and that about 15 armed men, some wearing insignia of the pro-Russia movement, are now guarding the building.
Pro-Russian separatists also control government and police buildings in ten other cities, Soraya reports, and they're demanding a referendum on whether to secede from Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian media are also reporting that the mayor of Kharkov was shot in the back while he was bathing at a spa. He has undergone surgery and his spokeswoman said his wounds are considered life-threatening.
On Sunday, the pro-Russian rebels paraded Western military observers as hostages, according to The Wall Street Journal:
"On Sunday, the self-appointed, pro-Russia rebel mayor of Slovyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov , trotted out seven Western military inspectors from Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic and their translator, all seized late Friday at a makeshift checkpoint in nearby Kramatorsk. One of the inspectors was later released."The inspectors are members of their home countries' militaries and part of an inspection team that arrived in Ukraine under an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe pact called the Vienna Document, which sets out guidelines for exchanging military information and hosting inspections. They aren't part of the OSCE special monitoring mission, which is made up of civilians and also operates in southeast Ukraine."
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