Ukrainian Special Services Intend to Impose Sanctions Against Some MPs

Ukrainian special services plan to initiate the imposition of individual sanctions against some members of parliament in the near future. Some MPs involved in supplying weapons to terrorists will be prosecuted, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov said on the air of a TV channel.

“In the near future, sanctions will be imposed against certain categories of persons – both individuals and legal entities. Moreover, I can safely say that there will be some lawmakers who are sitting in the Verkhovna Rada today. We have more than enough arguments to implement this. And if someone thinks that this is some kind of one-time action, he is deeply mistaken,” Danilov said.

He stated that since 2017, 1,228 citizens of Ukraine have been under sanctions in our country.

In addition, the NSDC Secretary denied the information that the United States allegedly influenced the imposition of sanctions against businessman MP Taras Kozak and his 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK TV channels. According to Danilov, the NSDC has been working on the issue of sanctions against Kozak for more than six months.

“For eight months, the National Security and Defence Council, on behalf of the President, was engaged in the information space of our state. Every day we received more and more information on how Russian narratives are funded and promoted, and how and for what money all these things happen,” he said.

At the same time, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov stated that the investigation had confirmed that propaganda TV channels in Ukraine are funded by their owners who earned money from the war in Donbas.

The minister noted that the information war is no less important than the one taking place on the front line. And the aggravation of the situation at the front is directly related to information propaganda.

“The hottest battles in 2014 took place over the Karachun Mountain to demolish a TV tower so that Ukrainian TV channels would not be broadcast. Many of our soldiers died there. And when they say that freedom of speech in a country is restricted as propaganda channels are shut down, I want to remind you that freedom of speech is not freedom of propaganda of an aggressor state,” Avakov said.

As a reminder, on 2 February, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defence Council to impose sanctions against MP Taras Kozak and his three TV channels – 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK. Businessman and MP Viktor Medvedchuk, who has direct personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is considered to be a real owner of these pro-Russian media outlets.

Representatives of the blocked TV channels announced the suppression of freedom of speech, political repression by President Zelensky and their intention to fight for their right to “speak for Ukrainians, bring the truth to citizens and be on the air.”

Bohdan Marusyak