The U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions on four Ukrainian current or former officials, alleging they actively worked to destabilize their country on behalf of Russia.
The sanctions, announced Thursday, coincide with the heightened possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could invade Ukraine or implement a “false flag operation” to drum up a supposed action to justify a military response, the Biden administration has warned.
Two of the four sanctioned officials, Taras Kozak and Oleh Voloshyn, are current members of the Ukrainian Parliament and part of the political party headed by Viktor Medvedchuk, who is already subject to U.S. sanctions for his role in the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea. The others are Volodymyr Oliynyk, a former Ukrainian official who has fled to Russia and currently works in Moscow, and Vladimir Sivkovich, who previously served as the deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council.
ZELENSKY ‘DIDN’T SHY AWAY FROM ASKING FOR MORE’ FROM US, SENATOR SAYS
“The United States is taking action to expose and counter Russia’s dangerous and threatening campaign of influence and disinformation in Ukraine,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “We are committed to taking steps to hold Russia accountable for their destabilizing actions.”
The department said the sanctions were “intended to target, undermine and expose Russia’s ongoing destabilization effort in Ukraine,” while noting threats of harsh sanctions from the U.S. remain a possibility.
“The four individuals have played various roles in Russia’s global influence campaign to destabilize sovereign countries in support of the Kremlin’s political objectives,” their statement added. “The United States will continue to take steps, through actions like this one, and in partnership with the Ukrainian government, to identify, expose, and undercut Russia’s destabilization efforts.”
Russian intelligence services recruit Ukrainian citizens in key positions to gain access to sensitive information to create instability, the department alleges.
Kozak runs several news outlets in Ukraine, and he supported the plan to denigrate high-level members of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle. The idea was to accuse them falsely of mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and promote fake narratives about the 2020 presidential election in the U.S.
Voloshyn also worked to benefit Russia by working with Konstantin Kilimnik, another Russian national previously sanctioned by the U.S. for attempts to influence the last presidential election.
Sivkovich has worked with a network of Russian intelligence assets to carry out operations to build support for Ukraine to cede Crimea to Russia in exchange for a drawdown of Russian troops. Meanwhile, Oliynyk worked to gather sensitive information about the Ukrainian critical infrastructure.
The Biden administration this week has suggested Putin is getting progressively closer to choosing to invade.
The White House has said this week it’s concerned “Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine.”
“Russia has continued to escalate its threat toward Ukraine; we’ve seen that again in just the past few days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The president appeared to make a mistake a day earlier during a press conference when he suggested that “a minor incursion” wouldn’t necessarily result in the full-fledged sanctions previously threatened. White House spokesperson Jen Psaki later clarified the president “has been clear with the Russian president: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies.”
Zelensky pushed back on the remark saying, “We want to remind the great powers that there are no minor incursions and small nations. Just as there are no minor casualties and little grief from the loss of loved ones. I say this as the president of a great power.”
