US imposes sanctions on four Ukrainians
January 20, 2022
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions against four Ukrainians it accused of working with Russia to destabilize Kyiv.
The individuals targeted by the US Treasury include two current members of the Ukrainian parliament, as well as two former officials.
In its justification for the move, the Treasury said they had been involved in operations led by Russia's FSB intelligence service meant to undermine Ukraine's government and economy.
All four individuals "act at the direction of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)" and are "engaged in Russian government-directed influence activities to destabilize Ukraine," the Treasury said.
"This action is intended to target, highlight, and undercut Russia's ongoing destabilization effort in Ukraine," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during his visit to Berlin.
How did the US frame the sanctions?
The move is intended to show the willingness on the part of the US to impose sanctions against those acting aggressively towards Ukraine's sovereignty.
It comes as some 100,000 Russian troops have been stationed at the Ukrainian border for several weeks.
"We're not waiting to counter Russia with these actions — we're taking steps now to do so. This demonstrates that we stand with the Ukrainian government in seeking to identify, expose and to undercut Russia's destabilization efforts inside Ukraine," a senior US administration official told reporters.
US President Joe Biden also made efforts on Thursday to emphasize his administration's support for Ukraine and the consequences that any aggression by Moscow would trigger.
"If any assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that is an invasion," he said, hoping to clear up confusion after seeming to suggest on Wednesday that a "minor" attack could lead to a milder NATO response.
Who are the lawmakers being sanctioned?
The two lawmakers, Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn, are both from the political party headed by Viktor Medvedchuk.
Medvedchuk is believed to be aligned with Moscow and is already on the US blacklist "for his role in undermining Ukrainian sovereignty in 2014."
Kozak owns television channels and has been accused of using them to undermine the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The US Treasury also accused the pair of being involved in disinformation campaigns aimed at the 2020 US presidential election.
Who else is being sanctioned?
The two other men included on the list of sanctions were Volodymyr Oliynyk and Vladimir Sivkovich.
Oliynyk is a former Ukrainian official, but he has since moved to Russia and is coordinating with Moscow on attempts to damage Ukraine's critical infrastructure, the Treasury said.
Sivkovich is a former national security official. He is believed to have actively supported Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The Treasury Department also said he had been involved with disinformation campaigns during the US presidential election.
ab/sms (AFP, Reuters)