UK and EU remove sanctions against former Ukrainian PM and energy minister
The United Kingdom and European Union have both removed sanctions against Ukraine’s former prime minister Mykola Azarov and former energy minister Edward Stavytskyi, scratching their names off a list of former officials accused of misappropriation of state funds or abuse of office.
The UK Treasury’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (‘OFSI’) named the two in a 6 March notice, announcing that ‘an asset freeze no longer applies to the persons.’ The day after, the Council of the European Union issued an identical amendment, striking Azarov and Stavytskyi from the list of Ukrainian individuals sanctioned over misappropriation of state wealth.
Ten individuals, including former president Viktor Yanukovych, remain on the identical UK and EU lists of sanctioned individuals accused of misappropriations. Sanctions against them were extended for another year.
In a 6 March decision, the Council of the European Union said it had ‘decided to prolong for one more year until 6 March 2021 the existing asset freezes directed against 10 persons identified as responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds or for the abuse of office.’
