229 MPs supported the draft law No. 9157 on “Approval of recommendations to introduce personal special economic sanctions and other restrictive measures (sanctions)”

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada urges the country’s National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to introduce sanctions against several Ukrainian TV channels. 229 MPs supported the draft law No. 9157 on “Approval of recommendations to introduce personal special economic sanctions and other restrictive measures (sanctions)”.

Ivan Vynnyk, the Secretary of the Defence Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, presented a draft law.

“We realize that a journalistic staff performs their duties decently, we also realize that they are trying to comply with the principles of professional journalistic ethics… But we have to fulfill the requirements of the petition – to consider, to adopt. The committee offers this very wording and proposes to forward it to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine regarding the introduction of the personal restrictive sanctions,” Vynnyk said.

The parliament stated that “there are systematic signs of imitation of discourse practices of Russian imperial- chauvinistic propaganda in the activity of a number of legal entities, permanent demonstration of propaganda and spreading of the ideology of terrorism”.

The Verkhovna Rada has ordered to offer the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to introduce sanctions against Ariadna TV LLC, Novy Format LLC, TV Vybir LLC,112-TV Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, Lider TV LLC, Partner TV LLC, Novyny 24 Chasa LLC.

The sanctions offered are the following:

To freeze assets; to prevent offshoring the funds abroad to suspend fulfillment of economic and financial commitments; to cancel or suspend licenses and other permissions to broadcast; to ban the use of radiofrequency resources of Ukraine; to limit or cease the provision of TV and communication service and the use of shareware TV communication networks; to ban making deals with financial credit documents, emitted by entities sanctioned by the government under the Law on Sanctions; to prohibit the issuance of permissions and National Bank licenses for investments into a foreign country, placements of the currency in the accounts on the foreign country's territory; to stop issuing permissions and licenses to bring currency assets in or out of Ukraine, and the limitation of currency withdrawal from the salary cards, emitted by the residents of a foreign country; to ban passing the technologies, rights for objects of the intellectual property right; to cease the cultural exchange, scientific cooperation, contacts in the education and sport and the entertainment programs with foreign states and foreign entities; other sanctions, which meet the principles of use, foreseen by the Law on Sanction.

The document takes effect on the day of the release.

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The staff of 112 Ukraine TV channel insists that the steps made by the Ukrainian Parliament, which aim to apply sanctions against 112 Ukraine TV channel are nothing but a political decision; there is not enough evidence to make such decision, which badly lacks argumentation and may be considered unconstitutional.