Russia calls in Ukraine envoy over anti-Moscow bans
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Moscow to protest Kiev’s new round of sanctions targeting a number of Russian companies and individuals.
Maria Zakharova, the ministry spokeswoman, told a Thursday press briefing in Moscow that Ruslan Nimchynsky was called in to hear Russia’s “strong protest … in relation to yet another unfriendly act by the Ukrainian side.”
Zakharova said Ukraine's fresh measures against Russia may undermine the implementation of a truce agreement between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russia forces operating in eastern Ukraine, saying, “Such provocative actions … will not contribute to the normalization of Russian-Ukrainian relations.”
Ukraine’s warring sides reached the truce deal, dubbed Minsk II, at a summit attended by the leaders of Russia, France and Germany in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk back in February.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree sanctioning 90 legal entities and 388 individuals, including politicians and journalists, based in Russia and other countries. The measures entailed year-long entry bans and asset freezes.
The decree accused those named in the blacklist of posing “threat to national interests” or promoting “terrorist activities”.
The move sparked widespread criticisms, with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) saying that the bans blocked vital news and information about ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) also censured the measures, noting that they would restrict media freedom.
The criticisms later prompted Kiev to remove from the blacklist three BBC journalists, two Spanish reporters and a German journalist.
Moscow-Kiev relations have been strained since Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.
Ties soured further after Ukraine launched military operations in April 2014 to silence pro-Russia forces in the country’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Death toll rises to 27 in Ukrainian strike on New Year’s party: Russia
Russia asks US to stop chasing Venezuela-linked oil tanker
Russia delivers evidence to US of Ukrainian drone strike on Putin's residence
US kidnapping of Venezuela’s president ‘clear instance of state terrorism’: FM
‘Maduro our only president; no empire will rule us’: Venezuela vows resistance after US kidnapping
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
VIDEO | US aggression against Venezuela
Iran widens food subsidy coverage amid rising living costs
Gen. Soleimani thwarted US plots in West Asia region, Hezbollah chief says
VIDEO | Thousands gather in Baghdad to honor Soleimani and al Muhandis
Israel abducted 42 Palestinian journalists, including 8 women, in 2025
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
