You're reading: Foreign Ministry: Politically motivated denial of visas unacceptable

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine considers unacceptable the denial of visas for political reasons, the ministry's information policy department Oleh Voloshyn said at a briefing on Tuesday. 

“The politically motivated issuing or non-issuing of visas is generally unacceptable. But this issue is currently irrelevant,” the diplomat said at a press briefing on Tuesday when asked about possible sanctions against Ukrainian officials responsible for the imprisonment of former Premier Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition figures.

According to Voloshyn, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry knows the position of the U.S. State Department, whose representative made it clear that the application of sanctions against Ukraine is currently not on the agenda.

As reported, on September 22, the U.S. Senate had unanimously passed a resolution on Ukraine with a call for the immediate release of Tymoshenko and other political prisoners. The resolution also calls for the imposition of a visa ban against all officials responsible for Tymoshenko’s imprisonment.