European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini delivers her statement, during the Geneva Conference on Afghanistan, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on November 28, 2018. (REUTERS File Photo)
BRUSSELS, December 10 (Reuters): The European Union on Monday blacklisted nine locals involved in rebel elections in east Ukraine last month but signalled no further punitive measures against Moscow over the latest flare-up of tensions with Kiev in the Azov Sea.
Instead, the EU's foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said they would look at offering more assistance to Ukraine, which had its Black Sea peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014 and then saw Moscow back separatists in the industrial east.
The ministers discussed with Ukraine's Pavlo Klimkin "the latest developments in the Azov Sea but also, and mainly, the support of the European Union to Ukraine, to Ukrainian people, to territorial integrity of the country", said the bloc's top diplomat, Federica Mogherini.
The bloc added nine locals in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of east Ukraine to its blacklist as a follow-up to the separatist vote there, bringing the total number of people barred from the EU over turmoil in Ukraine to 164.
"Through their actions, they further undermined the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," the bloc said. "The EU considers these 'elections' illegal and illegitimate and does not recognise them."
Those blacklisted include Leonid Pasechnik, named mid-November as the rebel head in Luhansk. His Donetsk counterpart, Denis Pushilin, was blacklisted in 2014 as one of the initial leaders of the Russia-backed revolt.
Any assets they have in the bloc are also frozen, as are those of a further 44 entities.
Kiev has called for more Western sanctions against Moscow after Russian patrol boats fired at Ukrainian navy ships in the Azov Sea off Crimea. But the divided bloc is not going to act swiftly, if at all.
The 28 EU national leaders, who meet for a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, are, however, due to decide to extend the bloc's existing sanctions that target Russia's defence, energy and banking sectors.
Germany's Haiko Maas said the situation in the Azov Sea remained unresolved as Russia was still holding the Ukrainian sailors. Berlin and Paris were seeking to ease tensions between Moscow and Kiev.
Fighting between Ukraine and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014 and small-scale but deadly exchanges of fire are still frequent.
Citing the Russian threat, Ukraine in November introduced martial law and banned Russian men of combat age from entering the country.
The EU has since released 500 million euros in financial assistance to Kiev but is split on whether to go ahead with any new economic sanctions, a move that would require unanimity of all 28 member states.
"We don't see yet any decision-making today on the table," Austria's Karin Kneissl said when asked about more sanctions against Moscow following the sea incident.
On the other side of the spectrum is Lithuania, a leading EU hawk on Russia. Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said the Azov Sea standoff was a "blatant violation of international law" by Russia and could not be left unanswered.
"I don't expect something to be decided today but sanctions relating to this topic must be on the table," he told journalists.