Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council imposes sanctions against former President Petro Poroshenko
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has imposed sanctions against ex-President Petro Poroshenko, the former president said in a statement.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that an official decree will be published on February, 13, without naming Poroshenko by name, on the other hand, Poroshenko didn’t specify what restrictions would be imposed on him in his, but the sanctions could be implemented based on alleged high treason.
“The National Security and Defense Council has just made an unconstitutional, politically motivated decision to impose sanctions against me, Petro Poroshenko, the leader of the opposition and the fifth president of Ukraine,” Poroshenko said in a statement.
“Today, Zelensky has dealt a huge blow to the internal unity that our team has been strictly adhering to since February 2022 and which is our main weapon in the fight against the aggressor,” he said.
“All responsibility for the negative consequences lies directly with him,” Poroshenko added.
In his evening address, Zelensky said he had participated in the Defense Council meeting and that its decisions would be published the following day.
“We’re defending our country and restoring justice. Everyone who destroyed the national security of Ukraine and helped Russia must be held accountable for their actions,” Zelensky said without specifying who exactly could be penalized and what that would mean.
It’s worth noting that former Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko served one term as Ukraine’s president from 2014 until 2019.
Zelensky had defeated Poroshenko in the 2019 election, securing 73.22% of the vote against his opponent’s 24.45% in the second round, and following his victory, over 20 criminal cases were opened against Poroshenko.
Poroshenko was charged with treason, his shares in 19 companies were seized, and his affiliated companies received multimillion-dollar fines from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, however after the war started with Russia, the investigation of criminal cases against the former president was suspended.
