Zelensky imposed sanctions against Prokhorov, Abramovich and 250 other businessmen

Abramovich, who was a mediator in negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, fell under the sanctions. A note to the restrictions against him states,

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky put into effect the decision of the National Security Council on sanctions against 256 Russians, according to the website of the head of state.

Entrepreneurs Roman Abramovich, Mikhail Prokhorov and Elena Baturina fell under the sanctions. At the same time, in March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Zelensky asked the United States not to impose sanctions against Abramovich, since he could become an important mediator in negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. The Kremlin said that the businessman participated in the negotiations only at the initial stage. However, at the end of March, before the face-to-face meeting of the delegations, he was also noticed in Istanbul.

Restrictive measures have also been introduced against Senator Suleiman Kerimov, businessmen Arkady Rotenberg, Leonid Mikhelson, Vladimir Lisin, Gennady Timchenko, Yuri Kovalchuk, Leonid Fedun, Alexander Abramov, Igor Altushkin, Tatyana Bakalchuk, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Leonid Boguslavsky, Zarakh Iliev, God Nisanov, Alexander Nesis and others.

Speaking about this new package of sanctions, Kyiv previously noted that it would include “unexpected names of oligarchs”, while sanctions against one person from the list would be postponed for a certain period. “This is taking into account national security issues, according to a letter from one of our departments,” explained Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

Thus, in a note to the sanctions against Abramovich, it is indicated that restrictive measures “are applied after the completion of the procedure for the exchange of prisoners and bodies of the dead” between Ukraine and Russia.

RBC sent inquiries to a representative of Abramovich and a representative of Timchenko, as well as a representative of Alrosa and the Kyiv Ploshchad group of companies, owned by Nisanov and Iliev. A spokesman for Rotenberg declined to comment.

Restrictive measures were also introduced against 1.3 thousand organizations. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, Yandex, Alfa-Bank, Transcapitalbank, Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Rostelecom, RusHydro, ALROSA, Moscow Credit Bank and others fell under Ukrainian sanctions.

The sanctions list also includes the Administration of the President of Russia, the special flight squad "Russia", "Rosgosstrakh", the Kazan Helicopter Plant, KAMAZ, "Sukhoi Civil Aircraft", a number of Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, Siberia, as well as other organizations. In total, restrictive measures apply to 1,374 Russian companies.

Ukrainian sanctions provide for the blocking of both personal assets and those assets that the persons on the list could dispose of through third parties. The last package of sanctions, which Ukraine introduced on October 12, included former President Viktor Yanukovych, Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska, and Ukrainian businessmen Sergei Kurchenko and Pavel Lebedev. The latter during the presidency of Yanukovych, in 2012-2014, was the Minister of Defense of Ukraine.