President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has explained the imposition of sanctions against Petro Poroshenko, Ihor Kolomoiskyy, Viktor Medvedchuk, Kostyantyn Zhevago, and Hennadiy Boholyubov. Speaking to journalists during a visit to a nuclear power plant, he said that these restrictive measures would not be the last, and that they were introduced because of the withdrawal of billions of hryvnias during the war, Suspilne reports.
According to the president, this data was obtained by financial monitoring. He also said that Poroshenko and Medvedchuk are ‘partners in this case’.
"I'm just surprised that financial monitoring hasn't shown us anything before. I didn't see it, and it's hard to say how it was before me. Now the Security Service and financial monitoring are showing billions. And all these people, Medvedchuk and Poroshenko, are partners in this case, but I don't want to blame them, it's the courts that do that. It's not like someone is behind bars because of sanctions. Sanctions are restrictions on the use of certain money that was earned in this illegal way," he said.
The president also said that there is evidence of money laundering through charitable foundations that are supposed to help the army. According to him, the money allegedly ended up in the hands of party members. He did not specify either the fund or the party.
The President also said that sanctions could be lifted if the individuals against whom they were imposed returned the funds withdrawn from the state. These funds will be used for defence.
- The decree imposing the sanctions was published on the president's website today, and he announced the decision yesterday. He did not name any names, but the same evening Poroshenko made an address in which he spoke about the decision to take restrictive measures against him. He called it unconstitutional and criminal.
- The SBU explained the imposition of sanctions against Poroshenko as a security threat and recalled the ‘coal case’, which has been going on since 2021, in which Poroshenko is suspected of treason and aiding terrorism.
- There was information that financial monitoring had detected money laundering through the foundation before. This was discussed at a recent NSDC meeting. But then they did not mention Poroshenko, but talked about the financing of parishes by the Moscow Patriarchate.