Russia Adds Kuleba and Danilov to Sanctions List: NSDC Secretary Calls It a Gift, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Protests

Kuleba considers Russia's inclusion of him on the sanctions list revenge for the Crimea Platform summit.

Russia added Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov to its sanctions list. Here is everything known at this point. 

Who else was sanctioned

In addition to Kuleba and Danilov, the sanctions list includes:

• Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova
• Chairman of the Accounting Chamber Valerii Patskan
• Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration Valentyn Reznichenko

In total, 73 people were added to the list. The total number of individuals on the sanctions list rose from 849 to 922. It is noted that the list was last expanded in December 2020. 

To recall, on December 11, 2020, the Russian government expanded its sanctions list against Ukraine. It added Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmytro Razumkov, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk and head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE Yelyzaveta Yasko. 

Also on the list were Servant of the People faction deputies Andriy Herus, Oleksandr Kachura, Maksym Buzhansky, Geo Leros and Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk. 

How the Foreign Minister and NSDC Secretary reacted

NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov said that the imposition of sanctions against him by Russia is the best assessment of his work in defending Ukraine's national interests. 

Oleksiy Danilov
NSDC Secretary

The best gift for the 30th anniversary of Ukraine's Independence. The Kremlin has imposed sanctions against the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. I consider this the highest award and the best assessment of our joint work in defending the national interests of our state. I promise to live up to this “high trust” and do even more in the post of NSDC Secretary to once and for all remove the question of any presence of the “Russian world” and its agents of influence in Ukrainian life. As people say, “not even a spirit of it should remain!”

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba considers Russia's inclusion of him on the sanctions list revenge for the Crimea Platform: "Russia promised it would take revenge on me for the Crimea Platform. It did. But this will not stop us. Crimea is Ukraine." 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry protests new Russian sanctions

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry protested the expansion of the list of Ukrainian individuals against whom the Russian government has imposed sanctions. 

"This unlawful step is a continuation of Russia's aggression against Ukraine in all its forms and manifestations. This time the list included not only people's deputies and civil society representatives, but also representatives of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps. We consider such aggressive actions by Russia to be steps of despair from the failure of Russian diplomacy on the international arena, a provocation on the eve of the opening of the Crimea Platform summit," the ministry said. 

The ministry noted that no pressure from Russia will stop Ukraine's consistent policy of countering Russian aggression. 

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry also supports the US decision to introduce additional restrictive measures against Russia from August 20, related to the use of chemical weapons against Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. 

The measures concern a ban on imports from Russia of small arms and ammunition for them, as well as exports to Russia of a number of sensitive categories of dual-use goods. The restrictive measures also apply to a number of enterprises and individuals.