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The US Treasury has placed on sanctions lists four Ukrainian politicians who, according to Washington, carried out “harmful activities” in Ukraine at the behest of Russia. About it reported on the website of the department.
The list includes deputies from the party of Putin’s godfather Viktor Medvedchuk “Opposition Platform – For Life” Oleg Voloshin and Taras Kozak. Kozak owns the NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, blocked for being pro-Russian.
In addition, the sanctions list includes a former deputy from the Party of Regions, Vladimir Oleinik, who co-authored the so-called dictatorship laws adopted to suppress street protests in 2014, and then left for Russia. Also under the sanctions was the former deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine under President Viktor Yanukovych, Vladimir Sivkovich.
“These individuals are acting on instructions from the Russian FSB and supporting Russian-led influence operations against the United States, its allies and partners,” the U.S. government said in a statement. These four individuals played one role or another in Russia’s global campaigns to destabilize the situation in sovereign states in order to further the political goals of the Kremlin. The US will continue to take steps through actions such as this, and in partnership with the Ukrainian government, to identify, expose, and stop Russia’s destabilizing actions.”
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that Russian intelligence was instructed to recruit current and former Ukrainian officials to give them command and control over critical infrastructure during the Russian occupation. “At the center of this work are Taras Kozak and Oleg Voloshin, two current MPs from the party of Viktor Medvedchuk, who is already under US sanctions, for his role in undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty in 2014,” reads the text, which quotes European Truth.
The United States emphasizes that Kozak, who controls several TV channels, supported the FSB plan to “denigrate” people from the close circle of Vladimir Zelensky, blaming them for the failure of the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. In addition, Kozak used his media resources to promote misinformation about the US presidential election. According to US authorities, in 2020 Kozak collaborated with FSB agents.
Voloshin, according to the US Treasury, worked with Russian agents to weaken the positions of the Ukrainian government. He was also linked to Konstantin Klimnik, a Russian citizen who was sanctioned for trying to influence US elections.
Volodymyr Oleinik in 2021, at the direction of the FSB, was collecting information about the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, according to the American authorities. According to them, Oleinik shares anti-Western views and moved to Russia from Ukraine after the fall of the regime of Viktor Yanukovych.
Vladimir Sivkovich, according to the United States, worked with Russian intelligence agents in conducting “operations of influence.” In particular, he promoted the idea of ceding the occupied Crimea to Russia in exchange for the withdrawal of Russian-backed armed groups from the Donbass.
“In early 2020, Sivkovich coordinated with Russian intelligence to promote Andriy Derkach’s disinformation campaigns ahead of the presidential election,” the report says. Sivkovic has also been involved in other “influence operations” against the US since 2019.
The sanctions provide for the freezing of all property and assets of listed persons in the United States or managed by US citizens or US companies, as well as the freezing of any companies that are directly or indirectly 50% or more owned by these persons.
Without the permission of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control OFAC, Americans are prohibited from transacting in relation to the assets of these persons, provide for their benefit or receive from them funds, goods and services.
In Ukraine, Taras Kozak and Viktor Medvedchuk pass accused in a criminal case of treason.
In January 2021 USA expanded sanctions list created in connection with allegations of interference in US elections. The list includes people’s deputy from the Servant of the People faction Alexander Dubinsky, ex-deputy Alexander Onishchenko, ex-prosecutor Konstantin Kulik, and Andriy Telizhenko, a former employee of the Ukrainian embassy in the United States, who helped President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani collect information in Ukraine, which could prevent candidate Joe Biden from winning the election. In 2020 USA introduced sanctions against People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Derkach, who published recordings with votes that allegedly belonged to Poroshenko and Biden.
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