The EU has parachuted a team of security advisers into Kiev to assist the Ukrainian government in imposing the rule of law in rebel districts, in a provocative move likely to further inflame relations with Moscow.

Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, agreed last week to requests from the Ukrainian authorities for urgent help in bolstering the country's security services.

An initial £2m is being provided by the EU to fund the unarmed advisers, but further money is expected to be committed as the conflict between the government and pro-Russian dissidents continues after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

The decision is likely to provoke an uncompromising response from the Kremlin, which on Saturday accused the EU of aiding terrorists through its most recent extension of sanctions.

A Russian foreign ministry statement condemned sanctions imposed on Friday against 15 named people, including a former Russian prime minister, a former speaker of the Duma (parliament), senior intelligence officials, and leaders of the pro-Russia revolt in eastern Ukraine. It accused the EU of taking "a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism [and] organised crime".

The statement went on: "We are sure the decisions will be greeted enthusiastically by international terrorists. What it wasn't able to do over decades – drive a wedge into the international community – they've done with ease in Brussels.

"At the same time, the European Union has once and for all joined the side of Washington and Kiev's fairytales regarding ongoing events in Ukraine, depriving itself of an alternative and objective source of information. Do they understand in the capitals of the EU countries what these irresponsible steps could lead to, either in the political or economic spheres?"

Among new subjects of an EU-wide asset freeze and travel ban are Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Russian Federal Security Service, and Sergei Beseda, head of the FSB department that oversees international operations and intelligence activity.

Four members of Russia's security council and 18 organisations or businesses, including rebel formations in Ukraine's east, were added to the trade bloc's sanctions list at the same time.

The action brought to 87 the total number of people under EU sanctions since Russia's annexation of Crimea and the revolt in eastern Ukraine. Two Crimean energy businesses had already had their EU holdings frozen.

Earlier on Friday, EU ambassadors reached a preliminary deal on further sanctions against Russia, targeting its access to European capital markets and trade in the defence sector, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies. It is likely that these proposals will be agreed by EU member states this week.

The EU's decision to help Ukraine in restoring law and order in its regions will inevitably fuel Moscow's anger at what is perceived as meddling by the west in the affairs of eastern Ukraine.

In a statement quietly released by Brussels, Ashton said the EU security advisers were non-military and unarmed. "The Ukrainian authorities have embarked on the critical path of civilian security sector reform and have requested the support of the European Union," she said. "The EU is deploying this mission to assist Ukraine in this reform, including police and the rule of law."

Robert Shlegel, an MP of the ruling United Russia party who used to be federal commissar of the now-defunct pro-Putin youth movement Nashi, said Ukraine needed a government independent of the EU to promote economic growth. He told the Observer: "It won't change anything even if there will be European police in Kiev. What will happen next? Will apartments be built? Will the investment climate get better? Will the war end?"

On Saturday, Ukrainian forces were advancing to the outskirts of a key town in pursuit of pro-Russia separatists in one of their main strongholds near to where flight MH17 crashed.

National security spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Ukrainian forces were outside Horlikva, north of Donetsk.

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak will travel to the Netherlands on Wednesday to discuss the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet with his Dutch counterpart. Najib said in a statement that he and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will discuss securing full access to the crash site and whether Malaysian pathologists can help in "expediting the process of identifying the human remains".

There were 193 Dutch and 43 Malaysian people on MH17 when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine on 17 July en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 people on board.