KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine on Friday said it was imposing sanctions on Andriy Derkach, the Ukrainian lawmaker who was accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of being a Russian agent and trying to interfere in U.S. elections.
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the security and defence council, said in a briefing that Ukraine was sanctioning Derkach, along with members of the Russian military and Russian judges. He did not spell out what form the sanctions would take.
Derkach has previously denied wrongdoing and said he was being targeted for exposing corruption.
He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“Today, by the decision of the National Security and Defence Council, sanctions have been introduced against the people’s deputy Derkach, and a certain number of people who are under the sanctions of the United States of America,” Danilov said.
The council also imposed sanctions on 28 members of Russian intelligence and special services, the state security service (SBU) chief Ivan Bakanov said in a separate statement.
The sanctions were “focused on protecting citizens and counteracting Russian aggression and hybrid warfare,” he said.
The announcements came as Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was likely set to exit ceasefire talks over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Putin was hosting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will travel to Ukraine for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; additional reporting by Ilya Zhegulev; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Chris Reese)
