Washington linked sanctions against Ukrainian deputies to the case of Biden

The US Treasury has imposed sanctions against two current deputies of the Ukrainian Rada and two Ukrainian politicians because of their cooperation with the FSB, follows from a press release from the department.

The new sanctions list included opposition MP Taras Kozak (Opposition Platform - For Life), owner of the Ukrainian TV channels NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine; opposition MP Oleg Voloshin (“Opposition Platform – For Life”); ex-deputy of the Rada from the "Party of Regions" Volodymyr Oleinik, former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (until 2014), ex-deputy Volodymyr Sivkovich.

Although there are no Russian citizens on the list, the US Treasury Department said in a statement that the sanctions were imposed in connection with the "harmful activities of RUSSIA abroad" (Russian Harmful Foreign Activities Designations). The Russian Harmful Foreign Activities sanctions program was launched in April 2021 by decree of President Joseph Biden. In addition to additional sectoral restrictions on Russian public debt, it provides for the imposition of restrictions on individuals and organizations involved in “undermining the conduct of free and fair democratic elections” in the United States and its allies, cyber attacks, corruption and other actions that undermine security.

“Russian intelligence agencies, including the FSB, recruit Ukrainian citizens in key positions to gain access to sensitive information and threaten Ukraine’s sovereignty, and then use these Ukrainian officials to create instability in anticipation of a potential invasion,” OFAC said in a release.

While OFAC links the imposition of sanctions to actions in Ukraine, three of the four Ukrainian politicians on the list were sanctioned at the same time and in connection with alleged interference in the U.S. elections.