Kiev, Ukraine. A wide number of individuals from around the world, from a 17 year old American boy in New Jersey to a 54 year old handicapped American in Donetsk all have something in common, they are wanted by Kiev for Donbass or pro Russian activism.
Worldwide 1,228 citizens of Ukraine, Russia and other countries have been put on the wanted list of individuals who fall under sanctions by a resolution of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine led by Petro Poroshenko, President of the Ukraine.
This information was posted on the Ukrainian president’s website on Tuesday in the annex to president decree No. 133/2017 dated May 15, 2017 on the enactment of the resolution by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated April 28, 2017 on the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures.
The number of persons has greatly increased thanks to Ukrainian volunteers who search on line for “anti-Ukrainian” statements or sympathy with the Russian Federation. The last time the president updated and extended the sanction lists approved by the NSDC was on October 17, 2016. Then 682 individuals and 271 legal entities were on the list.
In addition, sanctions are sought against another 17 people, including the director general of the Channel One television company, Konstantin Ernst; the editor-in-chief of the Novorus.info website, Andrei Surkov; the owner of the Pravda.Ru holding company, Vadim Gorshenin; the general director of the TASS news agency, Sergei Mikhailov; a former general director of the LifeNews television channel, Ashot Gabrelyanov; and the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today television channel, Margarita Simonyan were introduced on May 27, 2016 for a year. These persons also appear on the current sanctions list.
Individuals who fall under sanctions include Russian citizens involved in the occupation of Crimea, financing and support of “illegal armed formations” operating in Donbass. These people include Russian lawmakers of various levels, including the State Duma, and officials of various ranks and categories, as well as public and political figures and businessmen. International legal experts are taking a deep breath, as this can be considered an act of war upon the Russian Federation.
In addition, the list includes a large number of citizens from foreign countries who visited the “temporarily occupied” territories of Ukraine (Crimea, some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions) in violation of Ukrainian law, including some political and public figures, cultural figures and media representatives. International freedom of the press organizations have been outraged by putting accredited members of the press on the list for punishment.
Kiev has shown a keen interest in prosecution and persecution of Ukrainian and foreign nationals under laws that are not considered valid under international conventions. Recent enforcement has now focused on imprisonment for symbols such as Russian, Donbass, or Soviet flags and against people speaking out against the Ukrainian genocide of their own citizens.