KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine has imposed sanctions on former president and opposition politician Petro Poroshenko, including asset freezes and a ban on withdrawing capital from the country, a presidential decree published on Thursday said.
Poroshenko, one of Ukraine’s richest men who heads the largest opposition party in Ukraine’s parliament, served as president from 2014 until 2019 when he lost his bid for a second term at an election won by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The decree did not say why the sanctions were imposed, but Zelenskiy said earlier that his security council would announce sanctions targeting people who had undermined Ukrainian national security.
“The billions made in what amounted to the sale of Ukraine and Ukrainian interests and Ukrainian security must be blocked and made to work for the protection of Ukraine and Ukrainians,” he said.
The council also announced sanctions against jailed tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, former co-owner of PrivatBank Gennadiy Bogolyubov, Viktor Medvedchuk, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and businessman Kostiantyn Zhevaho.
Poroshenko, who announced late on Wednesday that he had been sanctioned by Ukraine, accused Zelenskiy of an unconstitutional and politically-motivated move. The 59-year-old confectionary magnate, sometimes referred to as “the Chocolate King”, sees Zelenskiy as a long-standing political rival.
Before Russia invaded, Poroshenko had been the subject of several criminal investigations into his business empire. He has always denied wrongdoing.
The sanctions come amid signs of increasing activity on the largely dormant Ukrainian political landscape, as the push by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the war with Russia has opened up the possibility of a future election.
Martial law in Ukraine, which has been in place since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, prohibits holding elections. Zelenskiy’s mandate would normally have ended in May last year.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Christina Fincher)
