The White House planned to impose sanctions on Zelenskyy’s entourage, - MP

The White House planned to impose sanctions on Zelenskyy’s entourage, - MP

The administration of US President Donald Trump had plans to impose sanctions on high-ranking Ukrainian officials and individuals close to the President’s Office in order to pressure the Ukrainian authorities to sign a mineral agreement, reports Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, citing his own sources.

This was shared by the MP from the "Golos" party in a video published on his YouTube channel.

Zheleznyak provided information from a newsletter for subscribers of the publication "Livyy Bereh," which stated that one of the methods to pressure the Ukrainian authorities to sign the mineral agreement was sanctions against Zelenskyy’s inner circle. Allegedly, there are two sanction lists. The first contains 17 individuals, including the head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak, former presidential aide Serhiy Shefir, film producer and Yermak’s business partner Artem Kolubayev, businessman and producer Tymur Mindich, as well as business partners and other individuals close to Zelenskyy, the deputy narrates from the newsletter.

"The latter two are traditionally referred to as the ’purses’ of the President’s Office and ’overseers’ of the construction and energy sectors. I understand this refers to Kolubayev and Mindich," noted Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The second list mentioned in the newsletter, according to the deputy, is much broader and includes 279 individuals. It supposedly includes all ministers, senior staff of the President’s Office, key members of the "Servant of the People" party faction, Zelenskyy’s business partners, and his colleagues from the "Kvartal 95" studio.

"Interestingly, the head of the ’Servant of the People’ faction David Arakhamia is absent from both lists, so it is assumed on Bankova Street that he could have been involved in compiling these lists, considering that the parliamentary head of the servants has long been in conflict with the head of the President’s Office, the suspicion is not unfounded. The OP also suspects the leader of ’European Solidarity’ Petro Poroshenko, who could have suggested this method of pressure to the Americans after Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions against him," Zheleznyak quoted from the newsletter text.

US Sanctions against the President’s Office: details from the deputy

Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that rumors about the sanctions are not unfounded, and they particularly intensified before Trump’s speech in the US Congress, a few minutes before which Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a post, which "was perceived in one way or another as an apology before Trump" for the dispute in the Oval Office during the presidents’ meeting on February 28.

"A day before this, several of my sources in financial circles reported that there was active analysis on what to do and how to pay salaries to certain deputies of the OP or ministers if they fall under US sanctions," the parliamentarian said.

He noted that US sanctions are divided into two types: financial sanctions and broader sanctions from the US Department of State, which include travel restrictions, restrictions for relatives, etc. In Zheleznyak’s view, if sanctions are used as a tool of pressure for signing the mineral agreement, it is more likely about the first option.

"According to my information from several sources, indeed this option of sanctions was being prepared at least before this post as a response to this position of Zelenskyy and his entourage during the dispute in the Oval Office," the deputy said.

Regarding the second list of 279 individuals, the MP noted that he does not have information that can be trusted.