CANBERRA: The Australian government on Wednesday imposed financial sanctions and travel bans against 12 unnamed Russian and Ukrainian individuals in response to Moscow’s move to annex Crimea.
In a statement, the Australian minister for foreign affairs Julie Bishop said that Australia had imposed targeted financial sanctions and a ban for entrance to Australia for people from Russia and Ukraine who “are playing the key role in determining Russian policy that threatens sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The United States and the European Union (EU) have already imposed sanctions against Russian and the Ukrainian officials.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a phone conversation with the US Secretary of State John Kerry that sanctions against Russia introduced by the US and the EU were absolutely unacceptable and there would be consequences.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the treaty on rejoining the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol to the Russian Federation is  in line with the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The court said that President Vladimir Putin acted legally by signing a treaty to make Crimea and Sevastopol parts of Russia.
The ruling by the Constitutional Court enables Putin to hand over the treaty to the parliament for ratification.
