European Union diplomats are set to prolong sanctions against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych but abandon the punitive measures imposed on two of his associates — one of whom was the proxy owner of a lavish estate outside Kyiv that became a symbol of Yanukovych’s excesses after he was pushed from power in 2014.
EU diplomats who were not authorized to speak on the record told RFE/RL on February 20 that the EU has concluded that there was not enough evidence to keep Serhiy Klyuyev and former Justice Minister Olena Lukash on the list of people targeted with sanctions for alleged involvement in embezzlement of state funds under Yanukovych, who was elected in 2010.
