Ukraine broadens personal sanction list related to Russian aggression

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko issued an order on May 16 to implement the decision of the National Security and Defense Council that introduces personal sanctions against 1228 individuals and 468 legal entities. The sanctions will be applied for 1-3 years. The new sanctions list substitutes the previous lists (adopted in September 2015 against 388 individuals and 105 legal entities) as well as later resolutions expanding that list.

This time, the list was particularly broad and includes, among others, lot of Russian media and internet resources. For instance, the new sanction ruling stipulates the blocking of all the resources of Russia-related internet solutions providers such as Mail.ru (MAIL LI), Yandex (YNDX US), Russian social networking services, as well as economic sanctions against Russian developers of popular IT solutions like antivirus programs and accounting programs.

The reaction of the Russian government to the new sanction list was temperate – presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov only said that they are “closely watching the situation.” Russian state agency TASS cited a comment from NATO on the decision of Ukraine which called it a matter of national security. “The Ukrainian government has made clear that this decree is an issue of security, not one of freedom of speech,” a NATO official commented.

Alexander Paraschiy: The inclusion of Russian IT and social networking providers in the updated sanction list was a surprise, and we wonder how Ukraine will implement the new sanctions. Although the risks from the presence of Russian IT solutions in Ukraine could be exaggerated, we support the logic of such limitations as they could improve Ukraine’s information security. Also, in our view, the individuals sanction list does not look complete as it does not include many individuals who are subject to sanctions by Ukraine’s western partners like the EU and the U.S.