The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of Ukraine has confirmed that ex-head of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration Andriy Kliuyev was excluded from the European Union’s sanctions list, according to which assets of a number of former Ukrainian officials were frozen.
“This year Andriy Kliuyev was excluded from the sanctions list, as the EU Court in July 2018 overturned restrictive measures applicable to him since 2017,” Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman for the PGO, said on Facebook on Tuesday.
At the same time, he noted that the European Union extended for another year, until March 6, 2020, sanctions in the form of freezing the assets of 12 former Ukrainian officials. “The EU sanctions continue to be applicable to 12 persons,” Lysenko wrote.
At the same time, he noted that irrespective of lifting the EU sanctions against Andriy Kliuyev, the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine continue to investigate criminal proceedings against him.
Lysenko also noted that, despite systematic appeals by ex-officials to the EU Court for lifting the sanctions imposed on them, relevant court decisions are not an unconditional basis for the EU to repeal the restrictive measures.
“For example, taking into account the relevant decisions of the EU Court on the cancellation of previous decisions of the EU Council on imposing sanctions on [ex-Minister of Energy during Yanukovych’s presidency] Eduard Stavytsky and [ex-prime minister during Yanukovych’s presidency] Mykola Azarov, the competent authorities of the EU recognized the progress in the PGO’s criminal investigation against them as sufficient grounds for keeping the sanctions in place,” he said.
