Russia added new names to its list of economic sanctions against Ukrainian officials and public figures on Aug. 20, according to an official Russian document published on Aug. 20.
A total of 73 people were added to the list originally created in October 2018, expanding it from 849 to 922 people targeted by Russian sanctions in Ukraine. The sanctions include freezing non-cash accounts and other assets in Russia and a ban on capital transfers from Russia.
Newly targeted high-profile figures include Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
While Danilov called it “the highest distinction and the best assessment of our joint work in defending the national interests of our state,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry protested against the sanctions, calling it “an illegal step” and “a continuation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
“We consider such aggressive actions of Russia as steps of despair from the failed work of Russian diplomacy in the international arena, a provocation on the eve of the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform, ” the ministry stated on Aug. 21.
Kuleba said that Russia’s sanctions against him were revenge for the Crimean Platform summit, an initiative hosting at least 42 international partners aimed at de-occupying the Crimean Peninsula and restore Ukraine’s sovereignty in the region. The summit will take place on Aug. 23 in Kyiv.
”Russia promised that it would take revenge on me for the Crimean Platform. It took revenge. But that will not stop us. Crimea is Ukraine,” Kuleba wrote on social media on Aug. 21.
The Crimea Platform is a new coordination format initiated by Ukraine to step up the efficiency of international response to the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, which has been ongoing since 2014.
It raises the issue of growing security challenges, increasing international pressure on Russia, preventing further human rights violations and protecting victims of the occupation regime.
Apart from Kuleba and Danilov, the list now includes the Verkhovna Rada’s Human Rights Ombudsperson Lyudmila Denisova, Audit Chamber chief Valery Patskan and Governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region Valentin Reznichenko, as well as prominent journalists and business people.
In October 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to apply targeted sanctions on Ukrainian officials and entities, a list that keeps expanding three years after its creation.
The tit-for-tat move came after Kyiv and the U.S. took measures against Russian citizens and companies following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas.
