Ukraine Cabinet proposes sanctions against Russian citizens, entities

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine published a resolution on its website on Aug. 12 that asks the National Security and Defense Council to impose personal economic and restrictive sanctions against a series of citizens and legal entities of the Russian Federation. The sanctions will be based on supporting and financing terrorism on Ukrainian territory, which led to the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the rights and freedoms of its citizens, the temporary occupation of part of its territory, numerous casualties, and significant financial and property damage.

The Russian-backed terrorism posed real and potential threats to national interests, and national security and sovereignty, the resolution said. After the Council’s approval, the Foreign Ministry must submit information to the state bodies of the EU, U.S. and other states with the goal having them review the option of applying analogous sanctions, the resolution said.

The Cabinet approved the sanctions at its Aug. 12 meeting a day after a new round of sanctions imposed by the U.S. took effect on Aug. 11, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. The sanctions apply to 1,124 Russian citizens and 156 Russian legal entities.

Zenon Zawada: These measures are long overdue. Ever since the war in Donbas erupted in April 2014, the Ukrainian government has been criticized for asking the West to impose sanctions against the Russian government while failing to impose its own. Hopefully, this is merely the start of the Ukrainian government’s efforts in applying sanctions against Russia. Of course, the effectiveness of the sanctions is weakened when the Ukrainian government makes decisions to trade with Russia, such as transporting anthracite coal through Russian territory. But politics is also about compromise.