Ukraine Backtracks on Some Media Sanctions After Backlash

 

 
Reuters, 17/09 18:39 CET

By Alessandra Prentice and Pavel Polityuk

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered six European journalists to be removed from a newly-published sanctions list, officials said on Thursday, in a swift U-turn after the list was criticised by the country’s Western allies.

Poroshenko signed a decree on Wednesday naming more than 900 people to a blacklist to face penalties for reasons of “national security”, after pro-Russian separatists who have seized parts of Ukraine set a date for what Kiev sees as “illegal elections”.

The government has not specified precisely what penalties it would impose on those on the list, but these are thought to include bans on travel and financial restrictions for those with Ukrainian assets.

While mostly made up of Russians and separatists, the list included 34 journalists and seven bloggers from 

countries including Britain, Germany and Spain.

The European Union responded sharply.

“I am surprised and I am concerned and I will certainly discuss it with the colleagues in Ukraine because this is not European in spirit,” Johannes Hahn, the EU’s commissioner in charge of enlargement, said in Brussels.

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Source: Euronews