U.S. Visa Ban for 20 Senior Ukraine Officials amid NATO Warning
The United States has imposed visa bans on about 20 senior Ukrainian officials accused of backing the deadly repression of protesters in Kiev, a U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
The move came in response to violent pitch battles that killed 26 people on Tuesday amid apocalyptic scenes that left parts of Kiev's historic city center engulfed in flames.
A U.S. diplomat told several reporters that Washington would deny visas to Ukrainian officials "considered responsible for, complicit in or responsible for ordering or otherwise directing human rights abuses related to political repression in Ukraine."
In January, Washington revoked visas that had been granted to Ukrainian leaders seen as complicit in the country's political turmoil.
"What we did today was to enact a visa ban status, inability -- inadmissibility to the United States under visa law for about 20 individual Ukrainians who we consider responsible for the actions of last night," the U.S. diplomat said.
"So this would mean that were they to apply for visas, they would be denied."
The diplomat declined to name the Ukrainian officials concerned.
Meanwhile, NATO warned Ukraine on Thursday to keep its army out of the deadly crisis.
"I strongly urge the Ukrainian government to refrain from further violence," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.
"If the military intervenes against the opposition, Ukraine's ties with NATO will be seriously damaged."
He echoed similar calls from President Barack Obama, who said there would be "consequences" if people stepped over the line, and if the military got involved.
Source: Agence France Presse
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