The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine (PGO) has said that almost all assets of former high-ranking officials of the time of President Viktor Yanukovych, including former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, have been seized as part of criminal proceedings in Ukraine and abroad.
“Almost all the assets of former high-ranking officials (entourage) of the times of Yanukovych, including Azarov, were seized as part of the relevant criminal proceedings both in Ukraine and abroad,” Spokesperson of Ukraine’s PGO Andriy Lysenko wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday, commenting on the information on the lifting of sanctions against Azarov by the EU court.
According to him, these assets can be returned to Ukraine after the respective court decisions come into force.
Lysenko also said that the cancellation of decisions of the Council of the EU on extending sanctions against certain individuals made in the previous years by the EU court does not affect the current EU sanctions regime.
He cited data on sanctions: for example, as of today, EU administrative sanctions apply to 13 Ukrainian former high-ranking officials, Switzerland’s – to 18.
He also reminded that, as it became known on December 20, the Swiss government decided to extend sanctions against the Yanukovych’s entourage for another year.
As media reported, the EU court on December 19 annulled sanctions imposed on Azarov in2014 and extended in 2015. The decision does not mean that Azarov was removed from the current list of sanctions of the EU.
