You're reading: SBU admits some foreigners banned from Ukraine, but refuses to confirm, deny names

As foreigners in Ukraine are abuzz with rumors about whether they will be banned from the country for supporting anti-government EuroMaidan demonstrations, the Security Service of Ukraine in a Dec. 25 statement confirmed that some foreigners are temporarily banned for national security reasons.

However, the SBU — as the nation’s intelligence agency is known — denies the existence of a comprehensive “blacklist” of foreigners for political reasons, saying that such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. The SBU also refused to identify the foreigners banned or say how many are banned or give the specific reasons for doing so.

The SBU statement justifies banning entry of foreign citizens and stateless persons as “one of the tools to ensure the protection of state sovereignty, constitutional order, territorial integrity, economic, scientific and defense potential of Ukraine.” The entire statement in Ukrainian can be found here.

Fears grew after the border control’s refusal on Dec. 21 to let Georgian businessman George Kikvadze into the nation. He landed at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport, but has since returned to Georgia to sort the situation out. He has a Ukrainian wife and permanent residency. No reason was given for his denial of entry.

Pro-presidential Party of Regions lawmaker Oleh Tsarev justified expulsions or denials of entry. “I think the participation in the coup (against President Viktor Yanukovych) is a good reason to ban entry into the country,” Tsarev said.

Tsarev said he asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ban the entry of 36 foreigners, a list he says may expand to more than 200 foreigners on the so-called “Tsarev list.”  The list consisted people from Georgia, the United States and some who live in Europe. 

“I know that the number of people engaged as politologists and organizers was more than 200. But I’m not a secret service officer, so I’ve marked those about whom I knew,” Tsarev said. 

German political scientist Andreas Umland, who teaches at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, is supposedly one of the 36 people on the banned entry list. But he said he doesn’t know his status.”I only get my information from the press,” he told the Kyiv Post.  

Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not involved in banning foreigners. However, the SBU and other law enforcement agencies can impose such bans. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, according to a spokeswoman for the SBU.

“We do not know anything about so-called “Tsarev list,” said Lada Safonova, the SBU spokeswoman. “We did not take any decision on it.”

However, the SBU official statement confirms that bans have taken place since November. EuroMaidan protests started on Nov. 21 in opposition to Yanukovych’s decision to abandon a key political and trade pact with the European Union.

According to the SBU statement, officials during November and December 2013 decided to ban some foreigners for national security reasons. 

“Of course they did not take the decision on the list, but took the decision on individual citizens. You must ask the question correctly. Such decisions can’t be taken by lists,” Tsarev explained. 

The SBU will not publish officially the names of foreigners banned entry in Ukraine. “We have no requirements on it,” Safonova told the Kyiv Post.

Kyiv Post staff writer Mariia Shamota can be reached at [email protected].