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| US sanctions target Putin's inner circle | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| US President Barack Obama has announced further sanctions on Russian officials and a bank over the crisis in Crimea. | US President Barack Obama has announced further sanctions on Russian officials and a bank over the crisis in Crimea. |
| Mr Obama also said he had signed an order enabling the US to impose sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy. | Mr Obama also said he had signed an order enabling the US to impose sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy. |
| Meanwhile EU leaders have arrived in Brussels amid warnings that they may impose tougher economic sanctions. | Meanwhile EU leaders have arrived in Brussels amid warnings that they may impose tougher economic sanctions. |
| Tensions are high as Moscow approves a treaty enabling Crimea - an autonomous republic in Ukraine - to join Russia. | Tensions are high as Moscow approves a treaty enabling Crimea - an autonomous republic in Ukraine - to join Russia. |
| Mr Obama said: "Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community." | Mr Obama said: "Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community." |
| He said the US was watching with concern the situation in southern and eastern Ukraine. | He said the US was watching with concern the situation in southern and eastern Ukraine. |
| Inner circle | |
| A White House official said the latest wave of US sanctions targeted 20 Russian individuals with interests in the Crimea. | A White House official said the latest wave of US sanctions targeted 20 Russian individuals with interests in the Crimea. |
| The Russian bank being targeted - for supporting government officials - is Bank Rossiya, the US Treasury said in a statement. | |
| Among the 20 individuals facing sanctions are members of Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. | |
| They include his chief of staff Sergei Ivanov and wealthy businessmen Arkady Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko. | |
| Those targeted will be unable to make transactions in dollars, will have any assets in the US frozen and will be barred from doing business in the US. | |
| European Union leaders meeting in Brussels also said they would expand the number of Russians facing sanctions, and said a summit with Russia planned for June would not go ahead. | |
| German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German parliament that the EU would be ready to impose economic sanctions against Russia if there were a further escalation in Russia's involvement in Ukraine. | |
| Mrs Merkel told reporters in Brussels that she was optimistic that EU nations would be able to present a unified voice on the Crimea crisis. | |
| Congressmen targeted | |
| Russia has announced that it is imposing its own sanctions against US officials and politicians. | |
| Among those targeted are some of the most senior Congressmen - Harry Reid, John Boehner and John McCain - as well as one of President Obama's national security advisers, Benjamin Rhodes. | |
| Mr Boehner's spokesman said he was "proud to be included on a list of those willing to stand against Putin's aggression". | |
| Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking before Mr Obama's announcement, described possible sanctions as "illegitimate" and "not based on international law". | |
| Mr Lavrov was addressing the lower house of Russia's parliament - the Duma - ahead of a vote to formally annex Crimea. | |
| Crimean leaders signed a treaty with Moscow on Tuesday to absorb the peninsula - an autonomous republic in southern Ukraine - into Russia, following a referendum which the West and Kiev say was illegal. | |
| The treaty is expected to be ratified by Russia's upper house on Friday. | |
| Speaking after talks in Moscow with President Putin, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged all sides to refrain from hasty or provocative actions. | |
| Mr Ban said he was "deeply concerned about the current situation". |