The Security Service of Ukraine suggested the National Security and Defence Council imposing sanctions on several former top officials and other persons, contributing to the strengthening of the occupation regime in the AR of Crimea and the Donbas.

This was stated by the SBU Head Ivan Bakanov at the NSDC meeting.

“Protection of national security requires further steps to bring to justice all those who betrayed Ukraine and who still acts in the interest of the aggressor. In 2014, state leadership faced great challanges, but they failed and the worst happened - Russia invaded our territory. So they must be prosecuted. And it does not matter what they were doing at that particular moment: either fleeing to the city of Rostov or calling on Russia to save the Russian-speaking population," noted Ivan Bakanov.

In particular, the sanctions are being imposed on Viktor Yanukovych and former high-ranking officials, among which are the prime minister Mykola Azarov, the minister of defence Pavlo Lebedev, the minister of education Dmytro Tabachnyk, the prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka and others, including ministers and law enforcement officers of the AR of Crimea.

The SBU Head emphasized that in 2014, these officials cooperated with the Russian special services contributing to the occupation of Ukrainian territories, coordinated the criminal activity of Russian forces, and violated fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, in particular, during the "referendum" in the AR of Crimea. Some of the above officials were also involved in financing terrorism, pro-Russian protests and anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

“Particular episodes of their activity in 2014 are still being reviewed by the courts. Some of the officials were also involved in signing of “Kharkiv Pact”. And some of these officials are currently working to the benefit of the occupation regime in the AR of Crimea and the Donbas,” stressed Ivan Bakanov.

Apart from that, the SBU suggested imposing sanctions on legal entities owning Donetskoblgaz PJSC. The actions of the mentioned legal entities resulted in outage of 58 boiler facilities in the JFO area, endangering citizens’ lifes and health.