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Russia imposes sanctions against Ukraine companies, businessmen, politicians
bne IntelliNews
Russia has imposed economic sanc- tions on 322 Ukrainian individuals and 68 legal entities, among which are public companies, oligarchs as well as politicians, according to the special reso- lution signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on November 1.
The move comes after four years of bitter sanctions tit-for-tat following Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in East Ukraine. Earlier, Moscow imposed a food import ban on Ukraine, which is widely considered to be Moscow's retaliation to Kyiv signing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) trade pact with the EU.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has described Russia's sanctions
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as Moscow's attempt to affect Ukraine in the run-up to elections in the country slated for 2019.
"Even an absolutely superficial analysis of Russia's so-called sanctions list and the timing of the sanctions publication indicates the start of a multi-episode soap opera to try to influence Ukraine in the run-up to the elections and after them," he wrote on his official Face- book page on November 1. "But in fact this is not even the first episode, this is only a teaser."
Medvedev's resolution imposed special economic measures, such as freezing accounts and deposits, uncertified securities, and assets in the territory of Russia, and a ban on transferring funds out of Russia.
Among blacklisted companies were some of Ukraine's public firms, spe- cifically, the nation's largest poultry producer MHP, sunflower oil produc-
er Kernel and Ukraine’s largest iron ore pellet exporter Ferrexpo. MHP's media office said the same day that Moscow's sanctions would not affect the company's operations. Other sanctioned companies did not provide immediate comments.
Among other blacklisted companies were the Kharkiv Tractor Plant, Ukrkhimenergo, Pokrovsky Mining, Galnaftogaz Concern, Kryvy Rih Iron Ore Plant, Skhidny Mining, Dniproazot, Bank Credit Dnepr and AvtoKrAZ.
A number of top Ukrainian businessmen were also included on the Moscow sanc- tion list. Specifically, Russia targeted oli-