Male Russian citizens between the ages of 16 and 60 are to be banned from entering Ukraine, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on Nov. 30.
The president did not say how long the ban would last.
“Ukraine has introduced restrictions on the entry of Russian citizens from the age of 16 to 60, so that Russia does not form ‘private’ armies in Ukraine, which in reality are representatives of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” Poroshenko tweeted.
“(This is) to prevent Russians from implementing in Ukraine the operations that they planned in 2014,” he added.
“At checkpoints, reinforced control measures are being implemented. Today, the entry of foreigners, especially citizens of the Russian Federation, is being limited. Citizens of the Russian Federation aged from 16 to 60 years old are not allowed to pass, male persons,” said Petro Tsigikal, the head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.
According to him, the border is being further fortified with weapons and armored vehicles, there is an increase in engineering and fortification work, and increased monitoring of the situation on the border. Counter-intelligence activities are being enhanced as well, he said.
According to State Border Guard Service spokesman Andriy Demchenko, despite the prohibition imposed on Russian citizens, there will be exceptions for those who are traveling to Ukraine to attend funerals or to visit sick relatives. He added that diplomats and Russians with permanent resident status in Ukraine will also be allowed to enter the country. However, decisions will be made on case to case basis, after arriving Russian citizens undergo an interview at the border.
After the implementation of martial law in Ukraine on Nov. 26, foreigners, including journalists, have been denied entry to Crimea. Only citizens of Ukraine can not enter the peninsula, Demchenko said on Nov. 29. “The restrictions on entry (to Crimea) for foreigners will last until the end of the period of martial law (on Dec. 26),” he added.
On Nov. 25, Russian naval forces attacked and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea, injuring at least three Ukrainian sailors, capturing 24, and jailing them on false charges.
Ukraine also says that Russia has blocked all Ukrainian commercial shipping through the Kerch Strait, which connects the Azov and Black seas, effectively blockading Ukraine’s ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk on the coast of the Azov Sea.
About 20 percent of Ukraine’s exports pass through the Azov Sea ports.
Ukraine’s parliament approved late on Nov. 26 the imposition of 30 days of martial law in 10 oblasts located on the Russian border, the border with the Russian-controlled Transnistria region of Moldova and oblasts located by the Black and Azov seas.
