EU freezes Yanukovych assets. Will it target Russians next?

Europe is moving more assertively after misjudging the situation in Ukraine. But sanctioning Russians over the Kremlin's military intervention may be a hard sell.

|
Yves Herman/Reuters
British Prime Minister David Cameron (l.), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (c.) and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (r.) meet ahead of a European leaders emergency summit on Ukraine, in Brussels today. The European Union froze the assets of several Ukrainian officials, including former President Viktor Yanukovych, and European Union leaders are set to discuss sanctions against Russia on Thursday over its military intervention in Ukraine.

In freezing the assets of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the European Union is showing a new kind of swagger in the East-West crisis playing out on its doorstep.

The EU's black list of Ukrainian officials accused of embezzlement – which includes a total of 18 individuals, including Mr. Yanukovych’s two sons – sets the tone as the leaders of the EU meet for an emergency summit in Brussels on Russia's interference in Ukraine.

It also comes as the EU offered a significant amount of aid to help the new Ukrainian government avert financial collapse. On Wednesday it announced $15 billion in grants and loans to the troubled nation.

These moves, within 48 hours of one another, mark a change in attitude and approach on the part of the EU, which has been accused of ambivalence and naivete leading up to the crisis.

The conflict began when Ukraine spurned a trade and association agreement in November that the EU had offered. In the days before and after, observers say that Europe made many mistakes: failing to see that the offer itself, which did not include short-term cash, was unappealing to the leadership of Yanukovych; how Russia would geopolitically view EU ties with Ukraine and rush in to sever them; and failing to put a Plan B in place for what to do if and when Ukraine rejected the deal.

Months of protests, which started in favor of the EU and ended in demands for Yanukovych's ouster, have turned into a major global diplomatic crisis, as Russia capped off months of protest by sending in troops to Crimea last week.

The sanctions on the 18 Ukrainians, who the EU says misappropriated funds, go into effect today. Now many are waiting to see if the same tactics are taken with Russia or Russian individuals over its military intervention.

While the countries in Eastern Europe largely favor as tough a response as possible, others in the bloc are favoring dialogue over direct sanction. That’s in part, they say, because dialogue is what works best. But their dependence on Russian energy and the wealth generated by Russian oligarchs cannot be overlooked.

A tough, uniform response from Europe to Russia’s incursion would be a remarkable outcome. It's also the real test of Europe’s unity on the matter, and its will to be a powerbroker in the crisis.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to EU freezes Yanukovych assets. Will it target Russians next?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0306/EU-freezes-Yanukovych-assets.-Will-it-target-Russians-next
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe