New EU sanctions against Russia have come into force today, targeting large Russian oil and defence companies, over its role in the crisis in Ukraine, however other big sectors, such as Russian gas exports, the space industry and nuclear energy remain unaffected.
The sanctions block the export of services and technology to Russia’s oil sector, with state-owned Rosneft, Transneft and Gazprom Neft, targeted by the EU.
The firms will be restricted in their acces to financial markets and state-owned banks will be barred from getting loans with a maturity longer than one month, and from getting other financial services in the EU.
A statement from the EU Council says the officials targeted are people "involved in actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity, including the new leadership in Donbass, the government of Crimea as well as Russian decision-makers and oligarchs".
"This brings the total of persons subject to sanctions to 119 while 23 [Russian] entities remain under asset freeze in the EU," it said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the EU of "taking a path towards undermining the peace process".
Lavrov said Russia "will react in a calm and appropriate way, first and foremost, proceeding from the need to defend our interests".
Barack Obama hailed the additional EU sanctions but stressed that the US remained open to a diplomatic solution over Ukraine.
"We are implementing these new measures in light of Russia's actions to further destabilise Ukraine over the last month, including through the presence of heavily armed Russian forces in eastern Ukraine," Obama said.
"If Russia fully implements its commitments, these sanctions can be rolled back. If, instead, Russia continues its aggressive actions and violations of international law, the costs will continue to rise."