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Russia’s Putin orders sanctions against Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin (photo by AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree allowing punitive measures against Ukraine in response to sanctions by Kiev against individuals and legal entities in Russia.

The Kremlin’s website on Monday reported the signing of the presidential decree, which said the measures were being considered in response “to unfriendly actions of Ukraine.”

The president also tasked the government with drawing up a list of Ukrainian firms and individuals to be targeted subsequently.

The government was ordered to “determine the lists of individuals and legal entities in respect of which special economic measures are applied,” and “identify special economic measures applicable to individuals and legal entities,” wrote the website.

Ukraine originally imposed sanctions against Russia in February 2014 over the unification of Crimea — a former territory of Ukraine — with Russia.

Back then, people in Crimea voted in a referendum to join Russia. Kiev and its Western allies, however, refused to accept the unification; accusing Moscow of illegally “annexing” the peninsula to its territory.

In June 2018, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree to expand sanctions on Russian companies and entities. The sanctions would last at least three years and included penalties on Russian lawmakers and top officials.

Washington and its Western allies have also imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia both over the Crimean unification and an armed conflict that erupted in eastern Ukraine when Kiev launched military operations to quell pro-Russia protests there.

That conflict continues to this day, and according to the United Nations (UN) figures, it has so far left over 10,000 people dead and more than a million others displaced since its onset.

Western countries accuse Russia of supporting pro-Russia forces in the region. Moscow denies the allegation.


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