Obama orders Crimea trade ban

United States President Barack Obama has ordered a ban on the export of US goods, technology and services to the peninsula of Crimea.

In addition, US citizens and companies have been forbidden from purchasing real estate or businesses in Crimea and from funding Crimean firms.

Obama also ordered fresh sanctions on 24 Russian and Ukrainian individuals and on a number of companies deemed to be destabilising Ukraine. Targeted companies include the Russian equity investment group, Marshall Capital Partners, as well as the Night Wolves biker group, due to their involvement in Crimean military action.

“The executive order is intended to provide clarity to US corporations doing business in the region and reaffirm that the United States will not accept Russia's occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea,” Obama said. "I again call on Russia to end its occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, cease its support to separatists in eastern Ukraine, and fulfil its commitments under the Minsk agreement."

The Minsk agreement, signed by Ukraine and eastern Ukrainian rebels in Belarus in September, put in place a ceasefire and set out the terms for a peace process.

However, more than 1,000 people have been killed in the embattled region since then five Ukrainian soldiers were killed in fighting on Friday.

The European Union agreed on similar sanctions against Crimea earlier this week, banning all EU investment in Crimea and EU participation in Russian oil and gas exploration in the Black Sea. European cruise ships will not be able to visit the peninsula's ports. Canada also announced its own sanctions against Crimea on Friday.

The crisis in Ukraine began a year ago, when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned an agreement on closer trade ties with the EU in favour of closer co-operation with Russia.

His decision sparked pro-EU protests in the capital Kiev, that eventually toppling Yanukovych in February. Russia annexed Crimea soon afterwards. Following the annexation, pro-Russian rebels took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine in April, and later declared independence.

Around 4,700 people have died during the crisis and a further million people have been displaced from their homes.