President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree depriving 34 individuals of their state awards, the Presidential Office announced. The decree enforces a decision by the National Security and Defence Council, which identified the individuals as traitors.
The list includes former government officials, MPs, heads of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office, prosecutors, artists, and Russian political, religious, and cultural figures. All have been permanently stripped of their state awards.
Among the most severe sanctions applied to 10 individuals were the freezing of assets, cancellation of licences and permits, and a complete cessation of trade operations. Seven individuals were sanctioned for the first time, including:
• Oleksandr Yefremov, former First Deputy Leader of the Party of Regions and faction head, previously awarded the Order of Merit (I-III degrees) and the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (V degree).
• Renat Kuzmin, former First Deputy Prosecutor General, recipient of the Order of Merit (II-III degrees) and the title of Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine.
The decree also affected individuals already under previous sanctions, such as:
• Viktor Medvedchuk, former MP, who held the Order of Merit (I-III degrees), the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (V degree), and the title of Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine.
• Dmytro Tabachnyk, former Minister of Education and Science, awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (IV-V degrees) and the title of Honoured Worker of Science and Technology.
• Mykola Azarov, former Prime Minister, recipient of the Order of Merit (I-III degrees), the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (V degree), and the title of Honoured Economist of Ukraine.
• Viktor Pshonka, former Prosecutor General, who held the Order of Merit (third class).
• Andriy Derkach, former MP, awarded the Order of Merit (third class).
Notable cultural figures were also targeted, including:
• Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and former KGB agent, who was stripped of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise (first class).
• Russian artists such as Nikolay Baskov, Filipp Kirkorov, Alexander Malinin, composer Igor Krutoy, and singers Karolina Kuek (Ani Lorak) and Taisiya Povaliy, who lost their honorary titles of People’s Artist and Honoured Artist of Ukraine.
Additionally, former Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, ex-MPs Vadym Kolesnichenko, Vadym Rabinovych, Taras Kozak, and Oleh Tsaryov, as well as footballer Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, were stripped of their awards.