Russian servicemen are seen onboard a military vehicle in front of a shop window in Tverskaya Street before the rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in central Moscow, Russia May 3, 2018. (REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva)

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has imposed new restrictions on Russian immigration into his country and instituted martial law, warning that recent acts of Russian aggression may indicate an imminent threat of “full-scale war.”

The new restrictions on Russian immigration, which includes a complete ban on Russian men ages 16 to 60 entering the country, comes just days after Russian warships fired on and ultimately seized a number of Ukrainian vessels in the Kerch Strait off the coast of Crimea.


“As of today, the entrance of foreigners is limited, first of all for citizens of Russia,” Petro Tsygykal, the head of state border guard service, told Poroshenko Friday, according to a statement on the official presidential website.

Poroshenko said that the ban on Russian male immigration is designed to prevent a repeat of the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea, in which nominally “private” commandos acting at the Kremlin’s direction seized and occupied sovereign Ukrainian territory.

The new restrictions will prevent the kremlin from “forming squads of private armies that are representatives of Russian official troops and will not allow them to carry out operations, which they tried to do in 2014,” Poroshenko said.

Tsygykal also announced Friday that Ukraine has increased the number of troops stationed along its border with Russia due to intelligence reports that suggest Russia is amassing tanks and heavy weaponry near the border, indicating a “threat of full-scale war.”

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