Ukraine’s stance on Yanukovych-era figures raises questions amidst US sanctions
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Despite the imposition of restrictions on close associates of runaway former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych by the United States, Ukraine has yet to follow suit, as the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) has not imposed sanctions on a dozen contentious politicians from the Yanukovych era.
Notably absent from domestic sanction lists is Andriy Portnov, who served as Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration from 2010, overseeing the judicial branch of power.
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Also untouched by sanctions is Andriy Klyuev, who served as a NSDC Secretary and later headed Yanukovych’s administration. Klyuev is considered implicated in organizing the violent dispersal of students on Maidan on Nov. 30, 2013 – the trigger for the EuroMaidan Revolution, or Revolution of Dignity.
As an NV investigation reveals, several other controversial figures from Yanukovych’s inner circle, subject to U.S. restrictions, have not been included in Ukraine’s national sanctions lists.
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They include Raisa Bohatyriova, a former health minister, accused of embezzling state funds on an especially large scale and illegally transferring them abroad.
Additionally, Serhiy Arbuzov, a former deputy prime minister and acting PM, is omitted. The U.S. Department of the Treasury considers him a “leading member of Yanukovych’s political allies who controlled key economic positions in the government.”
Among the others who have so far escaped Ukrainian sanctions are:
Eduard Stavytsky, former Energy Minister, who left Ukraine after the shootings on Maidan
Oleh Voloshyn, former MP from the Party of Regions, suspected of state treason
Dmytro Svyatash, former MP of the Party of Regions and the Revival group, implicated in several criminal investigations
Andriy Zhydkov, the so-called chief of the Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry in Melitopol and Melitopol district, who facilitated Putin’s sham referendums
Volodymyr Bandura, former mayor of Sviatohirsk in Donetsk Oblast
Communist Petro Symonenko, who fled to Russia accompanied by Russian special forces during the occupation of Kyiv region
Renat Kuzmin, former MP from the Party of Regions, stripped of Ukrainian citizenship by Zelenskyy and suspected of state treason.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
