Ukraine slaps new sanctions on Russian oil industry, drone production

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed several decrees extending and imposing sanctions against Russia on Oct. 4.

The new measures take aim at Russia's oil industry and weapons production, particularly drone manufacturers.

One of the decrees extends existing sanctions that were set to expire, according to the Presidential Office. These target businessmen with cloes ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including companies connected to sanctioned Russian oligarchs Petr Aven, Mikhail Fridman, and Andrei Kosogov.

Another aims to weaken Russia's defense sector and limit Moscow's access to critical technologies. The decree imposes sanctions on 33 individuals and 27 entities, including manufacturers of drones, aircraft engines, and optical devices.

One of the sanctioned companies is Hardberry-Rusfactor, which produces drones and counter-UAV systems as well as neural network systems for automatic equipment recognition and target designation.

Others include Jupiter Plant, which manufactures optical devices, and the Valday Opto-Mechanical Design Bureau, which produces optics, night-vision devices, and FPV drones with thermal imaging systems.

The sanctions also target a Chinese firm, Shenzhen Weiliao International Trade Co., Ltd., for supplying components for drone production at Russia's Yelabuga drone factory. The sanctioned plant manufactures Geran-2 strike drones, Russia's version of Iran's Shahed-136.

Zelensky's third sanctions degree imposes penalties on four individuals and three entities associated with Russia's oil industry. The sanctions target the company Nefteavtomatika and its CEO, as well as Kurgankhimmash LLC (a company that designs and produces process equipment for oil and gas production) and its CEO.

In the next month, Ukraine will accelerate efforts to synchronize its sanctions regime with Western partners, the Presidential Office said. This work comes ahead of the anticipated approval of the European Union's 19th package of sanctions against Russia.

The European Commission presented its latest round of sanctions on Sept. 19, proposing additional penalties against Russia's financial and energy sectors, as well as a complete import ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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The Kyiv IndependentOleksiy Sorokin