Ukraine expands sanctions against Russian media, IT companies
Xinhua, May 16, 2017 Adjust font size:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to expand sanctions against Russia, blacklisting a string of Russian media outlets and information technology (IT) companies, the presidential press service said Tuesday.
The restrictions targeted nearly a dozen Russian TV channels and news websites and more than 50 IT companies, including Russia's largest search engine Yandex.
Russian social media networks Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki, which account for 53 percent and 34 percent respectively of Ukraine's daily Internet audience, were also blacklisted.
The decree has obliged Ukraine's broadcasting network operators and Internet providers to block public access to the Russian TV channels and websites.
The sanctions will be in place between one year and three years depending on the company.
Since 2015, Kiev has imposed sanctions against 468 companies and 1,228 individuals over their alleged role in the Ukrainian crisis.
Kiev has repeatedly accused Moscow of inciting the conflict in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions in east Ukraine. But Russia has denied these accusations. Endi