The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) has approved the prolongation of sanctions against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s entourage, the Interfax news agency has quoted an unnamed diplomat as saying.
The decision is to be considered and approved by the ministers of the Council of the EU member states on 4 March.
According to the UNIAN news agency, the sanctions have been prolonged against 16 ex-officials except for former Health Minister Rayisa Bohatyryova.
Thus, the sanction list includes Viktor Yanukovych, former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka, former Justice Minister Olena Lukash, former presidential administration head Andriy Kluyev, former Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Ratushnyak, Yanukovych's elder son Oleksandr Yanukovych, ex-MP Artem Pshonka, ex-MP Serhiy Klyuyev, ex-Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, tycoon Serhiy Kurchenko, former Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, former First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov, ex-MP Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, former Income and Levies Minister Oleksandr Klymenko, and former Energy Minister Eduard Stavytskyy.
The first sanction list adopted early in 2014 also included lawyer and ex-MP Andriy Portnov, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) ex-chief Oleksandr Yakymenko, SBU ex-chief Ihor Kalinin, ex-MP Oleksiy Azarov and the ex-president’s son Viktor Yanukovych. The EU removed them from the blacklist in March (Yanukovych’s son in June) 2015.