In late January, President Volodymyr Zelensky slapped sanctions on 18 people, both Russians and Ukrainians.
The list included 10 Ukrainian nationals, four Russians, and four people with both Ukrainian and Russian citizenship.
Among them were Ukrainian politicians spreading Russian narratives for years, local media personalities said to be parroting Russian propaganda, suspected Russian collaborators, a former head of the now-banned Communist Party of Ukraine, and a businessman from the list of the richest Ukrainians. The list included a few notorious personalities.
The highest-profile politician among them was Yuriy Boyko, a lawmaker and former head of the now-banned political party, Opposition Platform — For Life, that for years was the country's main pro-Russian party.
"We are blocking propagandists working for Russia, individuals who have sided with the enemy, and those aiding Russia in continuing the war," Zelensky said on Jan. 19.
“We are blocking propagandists working for Russia, individuals who have sided with the enemy, and those aiding Russia in continuing the war.”
However, the sanctions against Boyko were rather symbolical: He was stripped of his Ukrainian state awards, which the pro-Russian politician had gathered quite a few. There were no sanctions that limited his economic or political activities.
For others on the list, however, sanctions included freezing of assets, suspension of economic activity and extraction of resources, as well as a ban on flights and shipment of goods. The restrictions are valid for 10 years.
Among those hit by the full power of restrictive measures was one of Ukraine's richest people, Ukraine-born businessman Kostiantyn Hryhoryshyn, who did not renounce his Russian citizenship.
He said that he has applied to renounce his Russian citizenship, but it was not granted because he is also under Russian sanctions and was convicted in absentia by a Moscow court for tax evasion.
In 2021, Hryhoryshyn was listed by Forbes among 100 richest Ukrainians with a fortune estimated at $275 million.
Now he owns his Ukrainian assets through Cyprus offshore companies or through his business partners, NV reported. He remains a co-owner of Ukrainian regional energy companies.
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political analyst, said this sanctions package was likely a response to the public uproar following the resurface of a number of Ukrainian pro-Russian politicians and propagandists on YouTube and social media platforms.
"I think, Zelensky himself, and the President’s Office, (had) a feeling that some pro-Russian figures had raised their heads, that they felt that the war was supposedly over, that they could start preparing for an election campaign, that they could resume pro-Russian rhetoric," Fesenko said.
"This is a signal to everyone else."
Kateryna Denisova
Coordinated crackdown?
The sanctions coincided with Ukrainian law enforcement conducting a wide range of searches and arrests of suspected Russian collaborators, pro-Russian politicians, propagandists, and those publicly sharing pro-Russian views.
In just three days, a total of 222 people were declared to be suspects by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and 85 of whom were detained, the SBU said on Jan. 22.
Among them was Vadym Novynskyi, an ex-lawmaker from the now-banned pro-Russian Opposition Bloc and key sponsor of the Russia-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He was charged with high treason on Jan. 18.
After the start of the full-scale invasion, Novynskyi resigned from Ukraine's parliament and fled abroad. He was sanctioned by Ukraine in December 2022. For years, Novynskyi was listed among the richest Ukrainians, with Forbes estimating his wealth at $1.4 billion in the spring of 2023.
Another high-profile figure that suffered from the crackdown was Max Nazarov, a former host of pro-Russian TV channels banned in Ukraine for spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation and propaganda.
Nazarov, whose real name is Nazar Diorditsa, is suspected of justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. He was arrested on Jan. 21, with an option of a Hr 12 million ($286,000) bail to be placed for his release.
Nazarov has gained notoriety as a presenter at Ukrainian TV channels owned by pro-Russian politicians like Viktor Medvedchuk, Taras Kozak, and Yevheniy Murayev.
All the pro-Russian channels, including NewsOne, Nash TV, ZIK and Channel 112, were banned shortly before the start of the full-scale war.
Nazarov switched to hosting interviews on his own YouTube channel. During Russia's full-scale invasion, he has invited guests who have been vocal in blaming the U.S. for Russia's war against Ukraine.
Before Russia’s all-out war, Nazarov denied Russian involvement in the war against Ukraine, Detector Media reported.
He called his arrest "unfair" and promised to appeal the court decision.
Nazarov's former boss Yevheniy Murayev has also made a splash in the news recently.
In January, Murayev, a former pro-Russian lawmaker, published a two-hour-long interview on YouTube, marking his first public appearance after almost three years of the all-out war.
Shortly before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.K. Foreign Office publicly warned that the Kremlin intends to install Murayev as the head of the Russian puppet regime in Kyiv.
Murayev fled Ukraine in May 2022. In 2023, he was charged with treason.
In the new interview that allegedly took place in Beijing, Murayev parroted Russian narratives, blaming Zelensky for Russia's all-out invasion. The ex-lawmaker also opposed the idea of Ukraine's EU and NATO accession, and criticized Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Two days later, Murayev was on Zelensky's sanctions list.
Another high-profile person on the sanctions list was Svitlana Kriukova, a Ukrainian journalist and former deputy chief editor of Strana.ua – a controversial media outlet that has been banned in Ukraine since 2021. Its editor-in-chief Ihor Huzhva has fled Ukraine in 2018 after being investigated for extortion. He was sanctioned in Ukraine in 2021 along with his publication.
Being the publication's second-in-command, Kriukova has gained a controversial reputation among Ukrainian media observers, who often alleged that she was shaping public opinion to benefit Russia. Kriukova has also been critical of Ukraine's leadership.
After she was put under sanctions by Zelensky, Kriukova publicly denied that she ever shared pro-Russian narratives, and said she would appeal the sanctions in court.
Yaroslav Zubchenko, a media expert at Detector Media, a Ukrainian media watchdog, says that people like Nazarov, Murayev, and Kriukova's public rhetoric "benefits Russia."
"They have clearly, consciously or not – in my opinion, consciously – helped Russia in its invasion of Ukraine," Yaroslav Zubchenko, media expert at Detector Media, told the Kyiv Independent.
“Their rhetoric benefits Russia. They have clearly, consciously or not – in my opinion, consciously – helped Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.”
Another high-profile name on the sanctions list is lawmaker Nestor Shufrych, who was arrested in 2023 on charges of subversive activities against Ukraine and paying Russia's National Guard in occupied Crimea to protect his real estate on the peninsula.
Zelensky’s sanctions
Zelensky has started using sanctions as a way to target Ukrainian citizens and entities even before the start of the all-out war with Russia.
In 2021, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council slapped sanctions on Ukrainian citizens for the first time. Taras Kozak and Viktor Medvedchuk, both charged with high treason and financing terrorism, were the first ones on the list.
Sanctions were also imposed on pro-Russian TV channels linked to the two MPs, which were immediately shut down — NewsOne, ZIK and Channel 112.
Most Ukrainians supported these moves at the time. Zelensky’s electoral rating inched up.
The recent round of sanctions followed the rise of pro-Russian activity in the country amid war.
In mid-December, Boyko published a video on TikTok, repeating long-standing Kremlin propaganda. Almost three years into Russia’s all-out war, Boyko stayed in Kyiv, untouched by authorities. After the video, he was questioned by the Security Service (SBU), without any further charges.
In 2020, Boyko was ranked as the 79th richest Ukrainian, according to the NV media outlet. His asset declaration showed that Boyko's and his wife's total income for 2023 exceeded Hr 54 million ($1.3 million).
Ukrainian investigative media outlet Bihus.Info reported in 2023 that the Boyko family owns dozens of hectares of land, thousands of square meters of real estate, and has a number of hidden sources of income, including an energy company registered under his son’s name.
Freedom of speech and legitimacy
If four years ago, some observers labeled sanctions against pro-Russian forces in Ukraine as an attack on freedom of speech, there’s little talk of injustice now.
"In times of war, such sanctions are adopted as a way of protecting your (Ukraine’s) interests," said Fesenko.
Shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union imposed sanctions on Kremlin-controlled Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik media.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Washington also sanctioned RT. Antony Blinken, former U.S. secretary of state, accused it of being a "de facto arm of Russia's intelligence apparatus."
"They (European countries) actually did the same thing we did, but later. Because we are closer (to Russia), it concerns us first and foremost. We understand Russia better, historically," Zubchenko told the Kyiv Independent.
"We know what we're really doing, because it's not about freedom of speech. We were the first to notice the threat, we were the first to block it."
However, the main difference is the reach of Ukrainian sanctions that now target Ukrainian citizens without a criminal record. A step, the legality of which remains uncertain.
Ukrainian law prohibits public calls for the overthrow of the constitutional order, as well as incitement to national or religious hatred.
According to the Law on Sanctions, Ukraine can impose sanctions against foreigners and foreign entities, as well as Ukrainians who engage in terrorist activities.
"In the practice of our (Ukrainian) law enforcement, terrorist activity is a very broad concept," said Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer of the Kyiv-based NGO Anti Corruption Action Center (ANTAC).
Several Ukrainians on the sanctions list — including Boyko, Kriukova and Hryhoryshyn — weren't officially charged with any wrongdoing. The Kyiv Independent sent a request for comments to the SBU but has not received a response at the time of publication.
"Ukrainian law enforcement agencies can freely work against Ukrainian citizens, especially when it comes to freezing assets. Sanctions are an extra fast mechanism, and in the interests of national security, it may be justified to apply them against Ukrainian citizens," Shevchuk said.
Olga Rudenko
