Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has endorsed the imposition of sanctions on 28 members of Russia’s intelligence and special services, as well as six other individuals alleged to be responsible for human rights abuses in Crimea.
The decree, signed by Zelenskiy on November 18, was placed on the presidential website.
The National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) imposed the sanctions in August, along with sanctions against 12 legal entities, including local television channels, news agencies, and online publications from Crimea.
The RNBO said at the time that all persons and entities affected by the sanctions were involved in what it called “an information war against Ukraine” and were active participants in “hybrid aggression.”
Russia occupied Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by more than 100 countries.
Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed more than 13,200 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
