EU Foreign Ministers Agree To Impose Sanctions on Ukrainian Officials

European Union foreign ministers have agreed to

impose sanctions on Ukrainian officials they deem “responsible
for violence and excessive force.” According to Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt, the sanctions include travel bans as well as
asset freezes. The news comes a day after
it was reported that the U.S. was imposing visa restrictions on
20 Ukrainian officials.

Anti-government protesters say that at least
100 protesters have been killed today, and the Ukrainian
Interior Ministry claims that
67 police have been captured by protesters in Kiev. Two members
of
Ukraine’s Winter Olympics team have decided to pull out of the
games in support of protesters.

In the U.S., Sens.
John McCain (R-Ariz.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and
Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have come out in favor of targeted
sanctions. Yesterday,
President Obama said that there could be “consequences” to the
violence.

Russia
has denounced the latest European and American responses to the
Ukraine crisis, saying that they amounted to a blackmailing of the
Ukrainian government.

The French, German, and Polish foreign ministers spoke with
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych today.
According to AFP, the
Polish prime minister has said that Yanukovych is willing to
hold early elections.

Yesterday, Obama
said the following about the U.S.-Russia relationship:

Our approach as the United States is not to see these
[conflicts] as some Cold War chessboard, in which we’re at
competition with Russia. Our goal is to make sure that the people
of Ukraine are able to make decisions for themselves about their
future, that the people of Syria are able to make decisions without
having bombs going off and killing women and children, or chemical
weapons, or towns being starved because a despot wants to cling to
power.

The Obama administration may want to make sure that when it
comes to Ukraine, unlike Syria, Obama follows through on his
previous statements. After the Assad regime
used chemical weapons, thereby crossing the so-called “red
line” mentioned by Obama, the retaliation was
a deal relating to Syria’s chemical weapons agreed to with
Russia. Since then the Syrian government, which is supported by
Russia, has continued to wage war.

More from Reason.com on the situation in Ukraine here.