Russia galled as U.S. order sets visa ban

ROME - The United States escalated its response to Russia’s military and economic threats to Ukraine, announcing Thursday that it had imposed visa bans on officials and others deemed responsible for actions that have undermined Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The sanctions, which carried the threat of further steps, were announced as the European Union also took steps toward punitive measures.

Secretary of State John Kerry met for a second day with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, on ways to defuse the Ukraine crisis, one of the most serious East-West confrontations since the Cold War.

Russian officials reacted angrily to the U.S. action and suggested Russia would reciprocate with anti-U.S. sanctions.

“The U.S. has the right, and we have the right to respond to it,” Vladimir Lukin, Russia’s human-rights commissioner and a former ambassador to the United States, was quoted by Russia’s Interfax news agency as saying. “But all that is, of course, not making me happy.”

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the sanctions were intended to demonstrate that the world stands united against the Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula last weekend. Obama emphasized that the steps were taken “in close coordination with our European allies.”

“These decisions continue our efforts to impose a cost on Russia and those responsible for the situation in Crimea,” he said.

But he reached out to Moscow, calling for a de-escalation of the crisis by allowing international monitors into all of Ukraine, including Crimea, and opening talks between Russia and Ukraine. “There is a way to resolve this crisis that respects the interests of the Russian Federation as well as the Ukrainian people,” he said.

After announcing his sanctions at midday, Obama emphasized his resolve in a personal telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin later Thursday, the White House said.

Kerry also emphasized diplomacy in his remarks to reporters in Rome, saying the U.S. sanctions were structured to create the space for negotiations with Moscow.

“We want to be able to have the dialogue that leads to the de-escalation,” he said after his meeting with Lavrov. “We want to be able to continue the intense discussions with both sides in order to try to normalize and end this crisis.”

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said earlier Thursday in a statement announcing the sanctions that the visa ban would apply to those “responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” U.S. officials said that meant the measure could apply to Russians as well as Ukrainians.

The restrictions expand earlier visa bans that had been imposed on those considered responsible for human-rights abuses and political oppression in Ukraine in recent months. In February, dozens of anti-government protesters in Kiev were killed by forces loyal to Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Kremlin president who then fled for Russia. The interim government that took over is regarded by Russia as illegitimate.

In addition to the new restrictions, Obama issued an executive order that provides the legal basis for imposing sanctions on “individuals and entities” who have undermined Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

The restrictions also apply to those who have misappropriated Ukrainian assets or have asserted authority over parts of Ukraine without the approval of its government, a reference to officials in the Russian-populated Crimea Peninsula who claim that they have broken free of Ukraine and who are seeking Russian protection.

The sanctions under the executive order could include freezing assets or preventing Americans from doing business with certain individuals.

The U.S. sanctions push has prompted a rare case of broad agreement among the Obama administration and most Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The House of Representatives voted 385-23 on Thursday in favor of the first U.S. aid bill for Ukraine’s fledgling government, following up on an Obama administration promise of $1 billion in loan guarantees. Two of Arkansas’ four Republican representatives, Tom Cotton and Steve Womack, voted for the bill. Rep. Tim Griffin opposed the measure, while Rep. Rick Crawford did not vote.

Meanwhile, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved a separate resolution condemning Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea and urging visa, financial and trade sanctions. Senators are at work on a larger bill putting together all elements of a U.S. response and hope to introduce the legislation next week.

Senior officials declined to say how many people would be affected by the visa ban or whom they might be, but they emphasized that some existing visas would be nullified. Although the executive order paves the way for additional sanctions, no foreign entities were sanctioned under the measure Thursday, a senior official said.

A block on visas is the easiest step for the Obama administration to take, because it can be imposed immediately and at the sole discretion of the government.

But Washington cannot publicly disclose the names of those who are subject to the ban, which limits its effectiveness. People will know that they have been barred only if they apply for a visa to travel to the United States or if they are told an existing visa has been revoked.

The United States’ European partners, who were meeting in Brussels, were told about the move in advance. Officials said the measures had been planned for a while and were not set off by plans for Crimea to hold a referendum on joining Russia.

The announcement, a senior official said, should prompt individuals in Russia and Crimea to wonder if they are going to “find their name on a list.”

There was no immediate reaction from Putin after the White House statement was released.

Lavrov, meeting with journalists after conferring for 40 minutes with Kerry, expressed irritation and said he had been assured that the United States had no list of officials who would be targeted by the sanctions.

“I drew the secretary of state’s attention to the fact that the incessant fanning up of the atmosphere continues, there are some secret lists of Russian citizens who will be forbidden entry to the United States,” he said. “He assured me that these lists do not exist. There is only an instruction, but this does not change things. It is still a threat.”

Lavrov also expressed regret about the suspension of activities in the Group of Eight, the conference of leading industrialized nations, of which Russia is a member, as well as the NATO-Russia Council.

“There are many one-sided, half-hysterical evaluations in the media,” he said. “I repeated this to John Kerry, who seems to understand that it doesn’t really help the flow of normal work. It’s impossible to work honestly under the threat of ultimatums and sanctions.”

A senior State Department official said Kerry had again urged Lavrov to talk directly with the new Ukrainian government.

“The two discussed possible formats for how that dialogue might take place,” said the official, who was not authorized be identified under the protocol for briefing reporters.

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, hinted at one possible format: a “contact group” that would include Russia, Ukraine, France and the United States, among other nations. Fabius said the idea of forming such a body and institutionalizing the negotiations over Ukraine had been discussed Wednesday in Paris.

Russian business and finance circles have been nervous since Monday, unsure of what economically punitive steps the United States and the European Union might take, said Igor Yurgens, a former Kremlin adviser who now heads the Institute of Contemporary Development, a Moscow research organization. He said the text in the White House statement was so broad that it was unlikely to directly affect most major Russian businesses.

Yurgens said that there was less at stake in the trade relationship with the United States, which amounts to $40 billion a year, and that many were braced for an EU meeting scheduled for today, where member states may formulate their own sanctions.

“Then it’s $600 billion, and that’s existential,” he said.

In Brussels early Thursday, the 28-nation European Union announced measures to freeze the assets of Yanukovych, and of 17 of his closest aides and family members, holding them responsible for the embezzlement of state funds.

The European Union also took the first steps toward more serious and concrete diplomatic and economic sanctions against Russia by immediately suspending talks on a wide-ranging political and economic pact and on visa liberalization, which would have made it easier for Russians to travel to Europe.

EU leaders also laid out a three-stage process that could end in wide-ranging economic sanctions if the Russians failed to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine and work toward a diplomatic solution.

EU President Herman Van Rompuy said further measures could include travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of an EU-Russia summit if Moscow does not quickly end its aggression and join meaningful, multilateral talks within days to halt the crisis.

But there was no hard timetable for more punitive action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been reluctant to move quickly toward sanctions, said the EU was looking for concrete evidence that Russia was trying to calm down the situation in Ukraine “in the next few days.”

The EU actions followed tough negotiations among member states divided over how to react to the Russian aggression.

“Not everyone will be satisfied with the decision, but I should say that we did much more together than one could have expected several hours ago,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Tusk noted the resistance to penalizing Moscow remains fairly high among some members of the bloc because of Europe’s close proximity, energy dependence and trade ties to Russia.

Russia is Europe’s third-largest trading partner and its biggest gas and oil supplier. EU exports to Russia in 2012 totaled $170 billion, and European banks have about $277 billion in outstanding loans to Russia.

But Tusk called the moves inevitable, given the country’s blatant violation of international rights by its actions in Crimea.

British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed, while acknowledging that stiffer sanctions would not hurt only Russia.

“Of course there are consequences for Britain if you look at financial services. Of course there are consequences for France if you look at defense. Of course there are consequences for some European countries if you look at energy,” he said.

But Cameron said the EU had to take tough action to counter what he called “the most serious crisis in Europe this century.”

Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Gordon, Ellen Barry, Alissa J. Rubin, Peter Baker and Rick Gladstone of The New York Times; and by Juergen Baetz, Mike Corder, Angela Charlton, Bradley Klapper, Lara Jakes, Julie Pace, Matthew Lee, Yuras Karmanau and staff members of The Associated Press.