Russia imposes retaliatory sanctions against Ukraine

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on anti-Ukrainian sanctions on Thursday.

The retaliatory measures taken as a response to the "unfriendly Ukrainian actions against Russian citizens", strike 332 Ukrainian individuals and 68 entities, according to a document published on the government's official website.

Son of Ukraine's president Alexey Poroshenko, Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov, ex-Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and a number of other Ukrainian top officials are on the Russian black list.

The sanctions hit the biggest Ukrainian enterprises like Naftogaz, Dneproazot and Glikohim.

The decree implies the freezing and ban for transferring assets from Russia of the persons and companies from the sanctions list.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in a daily conference call with journalists that Russia had not initiated the sanctions but was only responding to the sanctions by Ukraine.