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Poland sanctions 15 Russian oligarchs, 35 firms over Ukraine war

26.04.2022 13:00
Poland on Tuesday slapped sanctions on 50 Russian individuals and businesses, including the gas giant Gazprom, over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Polands Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński announces sanctions against 15 Kremlin-linked individuals and 35 companies, including gas giant Gazprom, in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine; in Warsaw on Tuesday, April 26, 2022.
Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński announces sanctions against 15 Kremlin-linked individuals and 35 companies, including gas giant Gazprom, in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine; in Warsaw on Tuesday, April 26, 2022.PAP/Leszek Szymański

The move was announced by Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

Kamiński told a briefing: “The initial list comprises 50 names of Russian oligarchs and companies that are doing real business in our country.”

Gazprom, Kantor, Novatek

He revealed that the list included the energy giant Gazprom, major fertiliser maker Acron Group and its CEO Vyacheslav Kantor.

“Acron has an almost 20 percent stake in Poland’s state-run chemicals producer Azoty Group,” Kamiński noted. 

He said the sanctions were also intended to target entities that had been bringing Russian coal to Poland, as well as gas firm Novatek and fertiliser maker PhosAgro.

Sanctions: assets freeze, exclusion from public tenders, entry ban

Kamiński told the media that the main punitive measure would be “a freeze on the finances and wealth” of the listed entities.

In addition, “they will be excluded from public tenders, while oligarchs will be barred from entering our country,” Kamiński announced. 

His deputy Maciej Wąsik told reporters that 18 of the sanctioned companies had transferred a combined sum of PLN 6 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) from Poland to Russia over the past two years.

The list of the 50 sanctioned entities, comprising 35 firms and 15 individuals, can be viewed on the interior ministry’s website, officials said. 

The Polish government’s move follows the recent passage of a law that makes such sanctions possible, the PAP news agency reported.

The announcement came on the day Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was due to hold talks with Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz on new sanctions against the Kremlin over the Ukraine war.

Tuesday was day 62 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAPgov.pl