Rebel Elections Spur New EU Sanctions

By Jenny Park

The EU imposed new sanctions against Ukrainian rebels, rejecting Russia’s offer to waive EU’s food embargo in exchange for the EU to lift its own sanctions against Russia. The fresh sanctions come on the heels of rebel elections on November 2. The EU and US believe that Russia encouraged the vote to undermine Kiev’s sovereignty. Indeed, while the EU and US denounced the vote as illegal and illegitimate, Russia stated that it would recognize the result.