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On 14 May 2018, the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 126/2018 implemented the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the application and cancellation of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) of this year dated May 2nd. This decision was made by the NSDC for the first time on 2 September 2015. By that time the antiterrorist operation had been officially going on in the country for more than a year. At the time of the first sanction list announcement, this document was given a lot of attention – it was condemned that the government had been dragged with acceptance for too long, each person from the list was being discussed one by one. Every year the list grew, and the resonance became less apparent. And this year’s changes were almost unnoticed by the media. And that’s a pity…
Who was de-listed?
Separate attention in the new Decree was awarded to Rybakova Yulia Alexeyevna, born in 1984 and Svetlana Dmitrievna Evdokimova, born in 1969 (positions 975 and 993 respectively). They were lucky enough to leave the ranks of those who fell under the sanctions of Ukraine. Each of them relied on three years of restrictions, ranging from blocking assets, ending with a ban on activities in Ukraine. It is curious that for both of them the type of activity and / or position was not specified. Therefore, it’s a challenge to track their fate. Probably, the reasons that brought them to the list it will remain a secret. Anyway it could be much more interesting to know what has helped them to escape.
Who is a long-liver?
This is already the third in a raw year for Sergei Alexandrovich Tokarev, born in Moscow in 1983, a citizen of the Russian Federation to stay in the list. Two years prior he got a year of sanctions each time and this year he received number 664 and three years of sanctions and numerous restrictions. Though the previous years his business partners Rustam Yusufovich Gilfanov, born in the Perm region of 1983 and Norenko Ivan Grigorievich as well as Rustam’s brother – Gulfanov Roman Yusufovich and the financial director of businessman Zelensky Maxim Grigorievich accompanied him. All of them are Russian Federation citizens. Tokarev and Gilfanov are known in Ukraine as the founders and owners of Lucky Labs company. They got to the list in 2016 under numbers 666 and 667 for financing the terrorists of the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. However, despite the seriousness of the accusations and the existence of sanctions, the company “Lucky Labs” continued its work on the territory of Ukraine unlike another company of Russians – “Global Games Ltd.”, registered in Belize and appearing in the list at number 236 in 2017. Maybe it will take the government of Ukraine a year or two to add Lacky Labs to the Sanctions List. Perhaps, the owners of the company assume such a possibility, as right the same time the new Annexes were announced the network was inflated with the messages that Lucky Labs had become a victim of black PR by unscrupulous competitors. Might it be a coincidence? Why not. But what a successful and timely!
Literally lightning fast this thesis was picked up by a number of Facebook bloggers, whose quotations for posts can be seen on the resource publicfast.com.
The media landscape of Ukraine is really horrible. And that is clear why – the country suffers informational attacks from Russian Federation. There are no widely known legal cases where media representatives were punished for defamation. That’s why it’s not a surprise that bloggers haven’t spent a minute to check the biography and status of the businessman they speak for. Otherwise if all the publications were made deliberately then we see the full list of Russia’s agents. If the fact of Tokarev’s being in a list for three years is taken into consideration then the argument about “competitors’ revenge” looks somewhat mythical. What kind of competitors are those who can provide seats in the sanctions list and give instructions to the RNBO and the President?
Perhaps, one thing in this story is obvious: Peter Poroshenko stands guard over national interests. It’s really sad that the hybrid war lasts 4 years already and the Ukrainian people still cannot separate the grain from the chaff. It is still easy to provoke Ukrainians and manipulate them by means of the “victim” image. Though why Oleg Sentsov did not get so much sympathy then… Maybe because nobody has payed for the posts…
Anyway just after the adoption of the decree, as mentioned by “Radio Svoboda”, Poroshenko stated that he expects from the NSDC comprehensive proposals on the synchronization of the Ukrainian and American sanctions regimes. Will this mean that the Ukrainian list’s involvants, for example, the same Rustam Gilfanov and Sergei Tokarv fall under sanctions in the US?
