KIEV, May 16. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has brought into effect a decision made by the country’s National Security Council aimed at extending sanctions against foreign members of parliament imposed on them for visiting Crimea, the presidential press service said on Tuesday.

The document stipulates that Ukraine will "refuse to issue visas to foreign nationals, ban them from entering the country and impose other restrictions." The document will remain in force for one year.

Sanctions apply to citizens of France, Greece, Israel, Spain, Italy, Serbia and some other countries.

Earlier on Tuesday, Poroshenko signed an expanded blacklist consisting of 1,228 individuals and 468 companies. This time, a number of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) members, judges of the Russian Constitutional Court, Russian journalists and TV channels have been added to the blacklist. Besides, sanctions have been imposed on several Russian companies, including 1C, ABBYY and their Ukrainian subsidiaries. In addition, Russia’s VKontakte and Odnoklassniki social networks, Mail.ru and Yandex companies have been banned.

Crimea issue

After Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted in a coup in February 2014, mass protests began in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. On March 11, 2014, Crimea’s Supreme Council and Sevastopol City Council adopted a declaration of independence.