The National Security and Defense Council on March 19 imposed individual sanctions against ousted pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych and a handful of Yanukovych-era officials, including ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.
Ex-Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, Yanukovych era oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko, Russia-appointed leader of occupied Crimea Sergey Aksyonov, and ex-Ukrainian prosecutor turned Russian lawmaker Natalia Poklonskaya are on the sanctions list.
Furthermore, all decrees issued by Yanukovych that are still in force are to be assessed and inspected for threats to national security.
Yanukovych, who fled the 100-day EuroMaidan Revolution on Feb. 22, 2014, was sentenced in 2019 to 13 years for treason in absentia. Earlier, the National Security and Defense Council ordered the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, to investigate possible treason committed by a number of high-profile lawmakers in 2010.
Back then, 236 pro-Kremlin lawmakers voted to allow the Russian Black Sea fleet to maintain a permanent base in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol in Crimea until 2042.
After Yanukovych escaped to Russia, his new home country invaded Ukraine killing over 13,000 people and occupying Crimea and eastern part of Donbas region.
Additionally, on March 19 the Council imposed sanctions on a number of companies owned by a low-profile man named Vitaly Lupeto, who is widely considered to be linked to a Russian-Ukrainian energy tycoon Pavlo Fuks. A total of 19 companies including GeoConect, Global Geo Invest, Nadra Pride, Best Oil Company fell under sanctions.
According to National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov, all those companies have received permits to extract Ukrainian resources in an illegal way.
The council has also ruled to reassess all permits issued to all companies allowing them to extract Ukrainian resources starting from 1994.
“If we find out that these permits were issued in violation of licensing procedure, they will be recalled in a legal way,” said Danilov.
