Moldova Joins EU Largest Sanctions Package Against Russia

The EU as a reaction to undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity introduced it. The restrictive measures affect hundreds of people, including people from Moldova or those who worked in Transnistria. Among them are the so-called “head” of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov (born in Balti), the former head of the so-called “Ministry of State Security” of Transnistria Vladimir Antyufeev, later a member of the Russian administration in Donbass. The order, signed by Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu on 16 November, envisages Moldova joining seven international restrictive EU measures, including the largest package of sanctions against Russia, imposed in 2014, with the annexation of Crimea, and updated for the last time in September 2023. The list includes: Russian oligarchs from Putin’s entourage: Alisher Usmanov, Oleg Deripaska, Arkady Rotenberg, Gennady Timchenko and others; Ministers and commanders of the Russian army during the invasion of Ukraine: Sergei Shoigu, Sergei Surovikin and others; Occupation officials from southeastern Ukraine and Crimea, and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In addition, the list includes the head of the Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died. Another person from Transnistria on the sanctions list is the so-called “minister” of education of Donetsk, Mihail Kushakov, who worked for a long time at the Taras Shevchenko University in Tiraspol as a vice-rector. Aleksandr Babakov, a former Russia State Duma deputy born in Chisinau, who served on the Defense Industry Committee’s Development Commission, was also sanctioned. In 2014, he voted in favor of approving the law on the annexation of Crimea. He is now a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.