Ukraine sanctions tycoons, companies with Russian ties

Ukraine on Thursday imposed sanctions on dozens of businessmen and enterprises with alleged links to Russia’s defence sector, the president’s office said.

The ex-Soviet country has been fighting Russian-backed separatists in its eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014, following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea.

Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops and arms to fuel the conflict, calling the separatists and those who support them terrorists.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that imposes assets freeze and bans on capital withdrawal along with other penalties against dozens of businessmen.

Zelensky also extended for another three years sanctions against dozens of Russian banks which Ukraine accuses of helping to support aggression against the country.

According to the decree, more than 50 lenders from Russia and separatist areas remain banned from doing business in Ukraine or withdrawing assets.

A three-year extension was also decreed for similar sanctions against Russian tycoons.

They include Arkady Rotenberg, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin; head of Russian energy giant Gazprom Alexei Miller; and oligarch Oleg Deripaska.

By a separate decree, Zelensky imposed an asset freeze, revocation of licences and other restrictions on controversial businessman Dmytro Firtash.

Last week, the Ukrainian presidency announced it would impose “a full package of sanctions” on Firtash for selling titanium products to Russian military companies.

Firtash, one of Ukraine’s richest men and a one-time ally of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, is wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the United States.

He was detained in Austria in March 2014 and the country’s supreme court ruled in 2019 that he could be extradited.

But Firtash has appealed the extradition and can remain in Austria pending a new ruling.

He denies the charges and says he was the victim of a smear campaign.