Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev confirmed on Dec. 25 that the Kremlin has expanded its list of sanctioned Ukrainian individuals and companies. Medvedev made the announcement on Twitter, without providing much further detail.
There will be additions to the existing, listed 68 companies and 322 citizens of Ukraine, who have been under sanctions since Nov. 1.
The Russian government says the sanctions are designed “to protect the interests of the Russian state, companies, and citizens” while Russian news agency Interfax reports that the list “will be… expanded by more than 200 individuals and organizations.”
Interfax elaborated that the new list consists of 245 new positions, seven of which are Ukrainian companies from armaments production and trade (Ukroboronprom, Ukrspetsexport), finance and insurance (Ukreximbank, TAS insurance group), energy generation (Zentrenergo), transportation and logistics (TEP Vertikal, First Logistics Company).
Ukrainian news portal segodnya.ua reported that the total list of the sanctioned individuals now amounts to 567 Ukrainian citizens and 75 companies.
The newly-sanctioned citizens include 22 Ukrainian opposition MPs, who voted to oust pro-Russian MPs Yuriy Boyko and Serhiy Lovochkin from the faction.
Among the newly sanctioned politicians are oligarch Vadim Novinskiy, head of shadow government Borys Kolesnikov, MP Mykhailo Dobkin from Kharkiv, and MP from Dnipro and presidential candidate Oleksandr Vilkul, as well as the leader of the Nashi movement Yevhen Muraev.
The list also includes deputy head of the presidential administration Kostyantyn Yeliseev, as well as Ukrainian judges, public figures and deputies of local councils.
Extra sanctions from the Russian government are seen as a further intensification of the hybrid conflict that Russia has been waging on Ukraine since 2014.
While Russia lays siege to Ukraine on land and at sea – as well in the legal and the economic spheres too – the West has been criticized for slow support. As Russia passes more sanctions on Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU have not introduced new sanctions on Russia, in relation to the recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian vessels off the Crimean coast.
Mostly, Ukrainian companies and individuals sanctioned by Russia say that they do not fear sanctions as they do not have any business in Russia or accounts in its banks.
Dobkin, however, offered his personal reaction on Twitter, saying that he was included on the list of the Russian opposition as one of the ardent supporters of the Putin regime several weeks ago, and now he has been sanctioned by the regime itself. “You should first decide internally who is who for you. Otherwise you look ridiculous,” he wrote.
