Russia says new EU sanctions risk ending security cooperation

MOSCOW / KYIV

In this Thursday, July 17, 2014 file photo, people inspect the crash site of a passenger plane near the village of Grabovo, Ukraine. All 298 people aboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

Russia said July 26 that new European Union sanctions targeting Russian intelligence chiefs over its role in Ukraine risked ending all joint cooperation on security.

The European Union "has practically speaking put at risk international cooperation in the area of security," the Russian foreign ministry said in an angry response.

The EU on Saturday announced it had broadened its list of Russian officials facing targeted sanctions to include the head of the FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, and the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Mikhail Fradkov.

It also included the head of Russia’s national security council, Nikolai Patrushev who is a former head of the FSB.

"The additional sanctions list is a direct testimony that European Union countries have chosen a course towards fully rolling back cooperation with Russia in matters of international and regional security," Moscow said.

It cited the worsening situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa.

Russia called the fresh sanctions "irresponsible", adding that the effect of the penalties "will be enthusiastically welcomed by international terrorism".

Mayor of central Ukrainian city shot dead

Meanwhile, the mayor of the central Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk was shot dead on July 26 and the house of another mayor in Lviv to the West was hit by fire from a grenade launcher, the Interior Ministry said. 

Ukraine, fighting pro-Russian rebels in its east and dealing with the aftermath of an airliner crash, has undergone turmoil since November, when thousands protested against former President Viktor Yanukovich. He was toppled by the "Maidan" protests but areas of the country remain divided. 

Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the country's Interior Minister, said the mayor of Kremenchuk, Oleh Babayev, was killed when a car pulled up to his own, and an unidentified person fired three shots from a gun with a silencer. 

"It is well know that Oleh Babayev was supported by a significant number of people in Kremenchuk. During Maidan, he supported activists, who local police and the prosecutor wanted to imprison," Gerashchenko said on his Facebook page. 

He added that a grenade launcher was fired overnight at the house of Lviv's mayor, Andriy Sadoviy, who was not home at the time. "Most probably these crimes are not connected," he said.