KIEV: Ukraine on Friday banned Russian men of combat age from entering the country, a move introduced under martial law after Russia fired on and captured three Ukrainian naval ships off Crimea last weekend.

Ukraine announced it was barring entry to Russian men between 16-60 years and a senior state security official said Kiev was considering whether to respond in kind with “mirror actions” to the Black Sea incident.

Earlier, in a move applauded in Kiev, US President Donald Trump called off a meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Argentina to signal Washington’s disapproval of Russian behaviour in the naval clash with Ukraine.

The Russian rouble, which is sensitive to events that might lead to new sanctions being imposed on Russia, fell on news of the cancelled meeting. Moscow said it expected the leaders to have an impromptu meet.

In a further boost to Ukraine, the EU released 500 million euros in financial assistance to Kiev and European Council President Donald Tusk predicted Brussels would roll over sanctions on Russia at a summit on Dec 13-14.

President Petro Poroshenko, referring to Russia’s seizure and subsequent annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for separatist uprisings in eastern Ukraine, said banning Russian men was important for stopping a full-scale invasion.

“These are measures to block the Russian Federation from forming detachments of private armies here, which in fact are representatives of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” Poroshenko said.

“And not allow them to carry out the operations that they tried to conduct in 2014,” he added.

In Moscow, a Russian lawmaker was quoted by RIA news agency as saying Russia had no plans for a reciprocal move to bar Ukrainian men.

The EU has propped up Ukraine’s war-scarred economy since the Crimea annexation while prodding the pro-Western authorities to pass reforms and tackle corruption.

“Today’s European Commission decision on disbursement comes at a crucial moment when Ukraine and its people face a new aggression from Russia and need to see solidarity from international partners,” said Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2018