According to the sources, at a meeting in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers added 13 more Russian and Crimean individuals as well as 2 Crimean companies to the exiting blacklist drawn up by the EU.

The fresh sanctions are in addition to 48 Russians and Ukrainians who have already been targeted by EU visa bans and asset freezes since Crimea's integration into the Russian Federation almost two months ago.

Russia and the West have been at loggerheads over the political situation in Ukraine.

The European Union has imposed a number of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures over the current turmoil in the former Soviet state.

The initial set of sanctions against Moscow came on March 17, one day after the Crimean territory declared independence from Ukraine and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum.

New sanctions come as Donetsk People's Republic proclaimed itself a sovereign state and asked Moscow to consider its accession into Russia on Monday.

The United States has also imposed its own sanctions on Russia. On April 28, the US slapped visa bans and asset freezes on several high-ranking Russian officials. Washington also imposed sanctions on 17 companies, claiming Moscow had failed to abide by the Geneva agreement to defuse the crisis in Ukraine.

A political crisis erupted in Ukraine last November when the country’s then president, Viktor Yanukovych, refrained from signing an association agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Moscow. Yanukovych left Ukraine for Russia as political upheaval against his decision became increasingly violent.

SHI/SHI