Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has thanked the EU Council for the introduction of personal sanctions against members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation elected from the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol.

"I applaud the decision of the EU Council to impose additional sanctions against individuals in connection with the illegal 'parliamentary elections' in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

"I want to thank the European Union for keeping up the non-recognition policy of illegal annexation of the Crimea and the strengthening of sanction pressure against the Russian aggressors," the president of Ukraine said.

As reported, six State Duma deputies from Crimea and Sevastopol have been added to the list of Russian and Ukrainian individuals and legal entities falling under individual restrictions of the European Union in connection with Russia's actions against the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The announcement was made in the Official Journal of the European Union on Wednesday.

Ruslan Balbek, Konstantin Bakharev, Dmitry Belik, Andrei Kozenko, Svetlana Savchenko and Pavel Shperov were blacklisted and prohibited to visit EU countries. A freeze will be put on any bank accounts they may have in the European Union.