Ukraine sanctions powerful pro-Russia lawmaker

Ukraine on Friday imposed sanctions against powerful pro-Russian lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, citing an investigation into the “financing of terrorism”.

Ukraine has been fighting separatists backed by Russia in the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014 following Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula.

Kiev accuses Moscow of sending troops and arms to fuel the conflict, referring to the separatists and those who support them as terrorists.

Medvedchuk, a 66-year-old close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been repeatedly accused in Ukraine of doing business in Russia.

On Friday, Ukraine’s national security and defence council imposed sanctions on Medvedchuk, his wife Oksana Marchenko, five Russian citizens and 19 companies.

“Sanctions will be imposed on Medvedchuk’s entire property,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the council, told reporters.

He said Medvedchuk and Marchenko are listed in a criminal probe into the “financing of terrorism”, but did not provide further details as to their status in the case.

Relations between Kiev and Moscow are at an all-time low, worsening earlier this month when Ukraine banned three pro-Russian television channels in a move it said was aimed at staving off Kremlin propaganda.

The decision was welcomed by Western countries, in particular the United States, which slapped sanctions on Medvechuk after Moscow annexed Crimea.

In recent weeks, the Putin ally also spearheaded calls to approve Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, but Ukraine’s pro-Western leadership has rejected the jab as a geopolitical tool.