Zelensky signs sanctions against Firtash, Russian oligarchs

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signed decrees
related to sanctions against Russian oligarch interests on Thursday, June 24.
Russian businessmen and oligarchs falling under asset blockages, prohibitions
against withdrawing money, and entry bans include, among others, Oleg Deripaska
as well as Arkady, Boris and Roman Rotenberg. A number of Russian enterprises
and institutions in aviation, government, and media also had sanctions laid
against them. Zelensky extended the existing sanctions against Russian banks
for another three years.

Separately, the sanctions were introduced against
Ukrainian businessmen Dmytro Firtash and Pavlo Fuchs.

James Hydzik: Ukraine’s
sanctions against Russia come as the U.S. prepares more sanctions against
Russia related to the poisoning and imprisonment of Aleksei Navalny. However,
the Ukrainian sanctions, being connected to Donbas and Crimea, are more
in-depth, and for some of the oligarchs involved such as the Rotenbergs, their
presence in Ukraine at one time had been considerable.

In the near term, sanctions against Firtash and
Fuchs, who had been connected in the U.S. with Rudy Giulliani, are important at
least in terms of shaping the competition before Ukraine’s upcoming
privatization of its titanium mining complex. Viktor Medvedchuk was not a
likely figure in the chase for what could potentially be a very lucrative
privatization considering Europe’s demand for titanium, but Firtash could have
been interested.