Ukraine extended sanctions against Pushylin, Sharii and Guzhva

The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine extended sanctions against a number of pro-Russian figures and propaganda media.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the decree on the implementation of the NSDC decision.

Propagandist Anatolii Sharii and his wife Olha Sharii are among the sledging figures. Their assets were blocked for 10 years, they were prohibited from conducting all trade operations and withdrawing capital outside of Ukraine. They also cannot cross the border of Ukraine either by air or by sea. Sanctions were also extended against their propaganda publication Sharii.net.

Anatolii Sharii is a former journalist who fled Ukraine in 2012 and received political asylum in Lithuania. Later, he started running a political blog on YouTube. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) informed him of suspicions of treason and called him a Russian propagandist who has been conducting subversive activities against Ukraine since 2012. Sharii himself called the case political.

The same restrictions were extended against the leader of the Russian-occupied territories of the Donetsk region Denys Pushylin. He already has 15 years in prison in absentia for encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, collaborationism and participation in the organization of an illegal referendum. In March of this year, SBU informed him of another suspicion for organizing the so-called elections in the temporarily occupied Donetsk region.

Sanctions were also extended against the founder of the Strana.ua propaganda publication Ihor Guzhva, his wife Hanna Solntseva, and Lasmak LLC, which owns this media.

The full list of sanctioned pro-Russian figures and media can be found in the presidential order.

All restrictions apply from the date of their publication, that is, from today. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will inform the European Union, the United States and other countries about the sanctions so that they introduce similar restrictions.

Sanctions against the publications "Strana.ua" and "Sharii.net"

On August 20, 2021, NSDC imposed sanctions against Ihor Guzhva, editor-in-chief of Strana.ua, and video blogger Sharii, as well as against his wife, her mother, and several other people.

On October 24, 2022, a petition to completely block and terminate the cooperation of state bodies with the pro-Russian Strana.ua publication received the necessary 25 000 votes for consideration by Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of December 30, 2021, in addition to the main domains "Sharii.net" and "Strana.ua", access to web resources and services similar in content (for example, to so-called mirror sites) is also blocked.

Author: Iryna Perepechko