human development

   15 Russian officials announced Tuesday lacked the punch of the preceding US sanctions, since they did not target officials overseeing Russia's state-owned oil giant Rosneft or the assets of Kremlin-connected oligarchs.

    However, they did target General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff, deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak, who has been charged with developing Crimea, and several leaders of the pro-Russian militia and protestors who have been occupying buildings in eastern Ukraine. EU countries depend heavily on Russian oil and gas exports.




    Among the pro-Russian leaders, most of whom were little-known before the wave of unrest, was Igor Strelkov, cited by some media as the head of the Donbass People's Militia. He is also reputed to be one of the “little green men” Russia has allegedly sent to promote unrest in eastern Ukraine, and EU officials identified him as a Russian military intelligence officer and an advisor to Crimean PM Sergei Aksyonov.

    Denis Pushilin, the prime minister of the self-declared “Donetsk People's Republic,” was also included on the list. Little-known before the occupation of the Donetsk regional administration building, Pushilin previously worked for MMM,  a company that ran a notorious pyramid scheme in the 1990s.

After Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the EU negotiated a plan in Geneva to defuse the crisis in Ukraine, Pushilin refused to recognise the agreement, saying the Donetsk protestors would refuse to leave the buildings they've taken until the Kiev government leaves its buildings, and they hold a referendum on the region's fate

   
    Several other pro-Russian leaders from Donetsk also fell under sanctions. Little is known about Andrei Purgin, besides the fact that he is a pan-Slavic activist who has agitated against the new pro-western government in Kiev. According to a social network page apparently belonging to him, he holds an IT degree from a Donetsk university and is now the co-chairman of the Donetsk People's Republic.

    Sergei Tsyplakov is reportedly the deputy head of the Donbass People's Militia and is also apparently a long-time pro-Russian activist. He told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that he was “extremely proud” of his inclusion on the list, adding that the sanctions are laughable.

    Two protest leaders from the neighbouring Luhansk region, where heavily armed men have been holding the regional security service headquarters, also face visa bans. Valery Bolotov, a commander of the Army of the Southeast group that has been occupying the building, was announced as the “people's governor” of Luhansk last week. The protestors soon followed Donetsk's example and declared a “Luhansk People's Republic.”

    German Prokopyev is also reportedly a leader of the Luhansk militia, but even less is known about him than about the other pro-Russian leaders.