By Meletus EZE
Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, signed a decree on Thursday to impose sanctions on 322 Ukrainian individuals and 68 entities amid a prolonged row between Moscow and Kiev.
The sanctions, ordered by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in October include freezing of assets controlled by the blacklisted individuals and entities in Russia and a ban on the transfer of their funds from Russia.
Relations between Kiev and Moscow have been deteriorating since early 2014 over Crimea and armed conflicts in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev has imposed a series of sanctions against Russia since then.
The financial sanctions was impose on political elite on Thursday, freezing the Russian assets of hundreds of politicians and officials along with dozens of businesses owned by Ukrainian businessmen.
The decree said 322 individuals and 68 businesses were targeted, including President Petro Poroshenko’s son Olexiy and presidential contender Yulia Tymoshenko.
Others are the head of Ukraine’s SBU security service Vasil Hrytsak, Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov and billionaire tycoon Victor Pinchuk.
The sanctions also targeted several listed companies, including iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo (FXPO.L), poultry producer MHP (MHPCq.L), and Ukraine’s biggest sunflower oil exporter Kernel (KER.WA).
The decree said targeted individuals and firms would have their financial and property assets frozen in Russia and would not be able to repatriate them to Ukraine.
Kiev has imposed its own financial sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and companies.
It was not immediately clear how big an impact the Russian sanctions would have on the Ukrainian economy.
