Russia Expands Sanctions against Ukraine

On Friday, 20 August, the Russian government expanded the list of Ukrainian citizens subject to economic sanctions from 849 to 922 people.

According to the resolution published on the website of legal information of the Russian Federation, the list includes:

– Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov

– Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba

– Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova

– Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Emine Dzheppar

– Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Valentyn Reznichenko, and about 70 more famous Ukrainians.

The sanctions include the freeze of non-cash money, non-certificated securities and property in Russia and the ban on transfer of funds outside Russia.

Meanwhile, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov wrote on his Facebook page that he considers these sanctions to be the highest award for his work.

“I consider this the highest award and the best assessment of our joint work to defend the national interests of our state,” he posted.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba states that restrictions imposed by Russia are an act of revenge for the Crimea Platform.

“Russia has put me on its sanctions list. Although usually, foreign ministers are not subject to sanctions to keep at least some channel for dialogue. But they arrived at their finger-end. Russia promised to avenge the Crimea Platform. And Russia took revenge on me. Russia will not stop me or all of us in Ukraine and abroad who got united by the Crimea Platform,” Kuleba stressed.

As a reminder, at the European Summit held in Brussels on 24-25 June, EU leaders prolonged economic sanctions against the Russian Federation until 2022. The sanctions were imposed over the occupation of Crimea in 2014.

Bohdan Marusyak