Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian government to draw up a series of measures as a response to “unfriendly actions by Ukraine towards citizens of the Russian Federation.”
A decree to impose the unspecified measures was published on the Russian president’s official website, kremlin.ru, on Oct. 22.
The sanctions are to be imposed on Ukrainian citizens and companies. The decree orders the Russian government to draw up a list of people and businesses to sanction, and decide what type of sanctions to impose.
The decree does not specify which “unfriendly actions” by Ukraine prompted the response from Russia.
However, Ukraine in June imposed sanctions on Russian oligarch Arkady Rotenberg’s family members and companies after Russia in May opened a bridge from Russia to Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territory of Crimea.
Rotenberg, whose companies built the bridge in breach of Ukrainian and international law, is a close friend of Putin.
Meanwhile German newspaper Handelsblatt wrote on Oct. 22 that Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine , said at a recent conference at the Atlantic Council think-tank that the United States was proposing to impose fresh sanctions on Russia every few months until the Kremlin halts its war on Ukraine.
According to the independent Russian-language news website Medusa, Ukraine’s current sanctions list includes 1,700 people and 700 companies – most of these Russian.
Oct. 24: Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a visit to Kaliningrad Oblast on Oct. 23 told reporters that the new sanctions would target “hundreds” of Ukrainians who “are harming Russia.” The sanctions would include freezing assets and banning certain products. He did not say which which products.
The sanctions would affect companies that are registered in Ukraine and have a connection to people under sanctions, he said.
Medvedev also said the sanctions would not target Ukrainians in general, as “we have warm feelings for the Ukrainian people.”
