Zelensky imposes new sanctions against Ukrainian, Russian business people

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on May 12, approving a proposal by the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on 13 people and 28 entities.

The sanctions target former lawmaker Andrii Derkach, Aliona Shutova, the daughter of former Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedev, the entities of the former lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, Russian businessman Evgeny Giner and his family.

The U.S. government has called Derkach "a Russian agent" and imposed sanctions against him in 2020, accusing him of trying to interfere in U.S. elections.

Derkach and Medvedchuk were charged with high treason.

Medvedchuk was arrested in April 2022 after fleeing house arrest and later handed over to Russia in exchange for Azovstal defenders’ commanders. Azovstal steel plant was the last Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol.

The sanctions also target the Ukrainian assets of Russian business people and related entities abroad.

"We are launching the procedure of confiscation of the Russian share. It will work for Ukraine and Ukrainians," Zelensky said in his evening address on May 12.

Ukraine sanctioned VS Energy International NV, the Netherlands-based company that owns energy facilities, a steel factory, hotels, and a mall in Ukraine.

The beneficiaries of VS Energy Group are Russian businessmen Mikhail Voevodin, Yevgeny Giner, and Deputy Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Alexander Babakov, according to Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation.

The group said in May 2022 that Giner, Voevodin, and Babakov “had not been involved in Ukrainian companies since 2014,” adding that the beneficiaries are Russian citizen Marina Yaroslavska, Genman citizen Oleg Sizerman and Latvians Valts Vigants, Vilis Dambins and Arturs Altbergs.

All the mentioned VS Energy’s nominal owners were included in the recent sanctions list.

On April 15, Zelensky signed two decrees to impose sanctions on more than 690 individuals and legal entities, including Russian ones.