Foreign minister wants EU sanctions to reach Putin

Lidegaard says sanctions strike the people with dirty hands, but let Russian leader off the hook

The foreign ministers of the EU declared sanctions against 21 high-ranking officials in Russia and in Crimea today after almost 97 percent of Crimean voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.

The sanctions will impose travel bans and freeze bank accounts of 13 Russians and eight Crimean citizens, whose names will be announced tomorrow on Tuesday, according to foreign minister Martin Lidegaard (R).

“It’s how we hope to strike the people with dirty hands,” Lidegaard told Politiken newspaper. “If we don’t see improvements and the situation gets worse, the list can be expanded, and it will be if no negotiations are being arranged.”

Putin escapes sanctions
None of the other foreign ministers wanted to include the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, on the list, although Lidegaard finds Putin responsible for how the situation has escalated.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Lidegaard told TV2 News. “These are people we want to bring to the negotiating table. Hopefully the sanctions we passed today will put pressure on the people right beneath Putin.”