Poroshenko signed a decree on new sanctions

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on the implementation of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) dated May 2, which provides for the introduction of new sanctions against individuals and legal entities. The document was published on the official website of the President of Ukraine. Earlier, Poroshenko stated that this decision of the National Security and Defense Council synchronizes Ukrainian actions with new US sanctions announced on April 6, 2018.

“To put into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated May 2, 2018 “On the application and cancellation of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions),” the document says.

The presidential decree is dated May 14, 2018, but has not been published before. Along with the decree, the text of the NSDC decision itself is posted on the website. However, addenda to the decision, which names the individuals and legal entities against which restrictions are introduced, were not published at the time of preparation of this material.

The decision of the National Security and Defense Council also orders to remove sanctions from two individuals included in the list by Poroshenko's decree of May 15, 2017.

At that time, a total of 468 Russian and Ukrainian companies, as well as 1,228 individuals, fell under the sanctions, more than half of them were already included in the sanctions lists at that time by presidential decrees in 2015-2016. Poroshenko’s May 2017 decree declared the previous sanctions decrees invalid, and the companies and individuals mentioned in them were transferred to a new black list. At the same time, Mail.Ru Group, VKontakte LLC and Yandex LLC were included in the sanctions list of Ukraine.

Following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on May 2, which was attended by Poroshenko, his press service published a message saying that the new sanctions would be synchronized with the US sanctions against RUSSIA on April 6. “With our decision today, we will coordinate the new sanctions that are being introduced with US sanctions against citizens and legal entities of the Russian Federation. They are connected both with the use of chemical weapons in the center of Europe - by Russia in the UK, and with the holding of illegal presidential elections in the territory of the occupied Crimea, ”the press service quoted Poroshenko as saying.

The President emphasized then that the sanctions "are clearly synchronized with Ukrainian partners from the European Union, the United States of America and the entire global pro-Ukrainian coalition."

New US sanctions announced on April 6, 2018 affected Russian entrepreneurs, officials and companies. Businessman Oleg Deripaska and his companies En+ Group and UC Rusal, businessman Viktor Vekselberg, HEAD of Gazprom Alexey Miller, head of VTB Andrey Kostin, businessman Igor Rotenberg and others were blacklisted by the US Treasury.