President of Ukraine enacts sanctions against Russian and Belarusian companies involved in transportation of troops and weapons. Assets will be seized for the benefit of Ukraine

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put into effect a decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against 3 individual entrepreneurs and 182 legal entities of the russian federation and the republic of belarus involved in transportation of troops and weapons of the occupation forces.

“The assets of the sanctioned persons, including those that they disposed of indirectly through other individuals or legal entities, will be frozen and seized for the benefit of the state. In particular, we are talking about railroad cars that will now work for the defense and economy of Ukraine,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Head of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on implementation of the state sanctions policy.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister, one of the main tasks of this year’s sanctions policy, which will be worked on, in particular, by the IWG, is to increase the effectiveness of sanctions. Specifically, to develop targeted sanctions against persons whose property may be confiscated in accordance with the procedure established by law in Ukraine.

“The assets of the enemies of our country should be recovered for the benefit of the state and should work for Ukraine,” emphasized Yuliia Svyrydenko.

The First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine also noted that the sanctions imposed by Ukraine and its partners against the aggressor state had a powerful effect and were already having an impact on the russian economy.

“At the end of the year, a budget deficit of RUB 3.35 trillion, or about 2.3% of GDP, was recorded. russia was forced to increase the issue of domestic borrowings, at floating rates, which would increase debt service costs. The national welfare fund, which has been used to cover the budget deficit since October, has decreased by tens of billions of dollars: while at the end of 2021 the fund had USD 182.59 billion, today it is about USD 148 billion. At the same time, the trends are only getting worse, and this year the budget deficit is expected to reach at least 6%. In case the sanctions coalition takes a tougher stance on the price cap on oil and petroleum products, the situation will be even worse,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

As a reminder, on January 15, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted a decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) to impose sanctions against 198 russian and Ukrainian citizens – propagandists, influential bloggers, actors, etc. The proposals to impose sanctions against these individuals were initially reviewed and recommended for submission to the NSDC by the Interagency Working Group on implementation of the state sanctions policy.