Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine’s prime minister, announced that the country might block the Russian gas transit. The government considers such a step as a retaliatory measure against Russia. The PM stated it is necessary to put an end to the dependence on the Russian fuel. Nevertheless, the politician admits that it is not going to be easy, but Ukraine counts on the World Bank and other financial institutions to do it. Besides, Yatsenyuk pointed out that Ukrainian government might also ban Russia’s airspace transit.
The Verkhovna Rada is working on the package of 26 sanctions, including “assets freezing, a ban on the activities, ban on the privatization of state property, ban on the license use, and full or partial ban on resources transit.”
The short sanctions list includes 172 individuals and 65 Russian companies. The international observers do not take these limitations serious saying that it is rather a harmless response. Previously, Moscow limited supplies of such Ukrainian products like juice; baby food; canned fruit, vegetables and fish; milk and dairy products. At a government meeting on August 7, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that among Russia, a range of countries banned Ukrainian companies from making transit flights through their airspaces. These nations are Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey.
