Russian men banned for fear of invasion
Measure taken under martial law after naval clash off Crimea
UKRAINE has banned Russian adult men aged 16 to 60 years from entering Ukraine, the head of the border service, Petro Tsygykal, said in a televised meeting yesterday.
Ukraine imposed martial law this week, citing fears that Russia was planning a full-scale invasion after Russian vessels fired on and captured Ukrainian ships last weekend.
The measure aimed at men of combatant age is to “prevent Russians from implementing in Ukraine the operations that they planned in 2014”, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Twitter, referring to the outbreak of a pro-Russian separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko said that such militia units were “in reality representatives of the armed forces of the Russian Federation”.
More than 10 000 people, including 2 700 civilians, have been killed in the conflict between Russia-loyal separatist groups and the Ukrainian military, according to estimates by the UN.
Tensions between Ukraine and neighbouring Russia escalated last weekend when the Russian coastguard opened fire and captured several Ukrainian naval vessels near the Russian-annexed Crimea region, which Ukraine maintains is its territory.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Russia was not planning to impose similar travel bans on Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman called for harsher EU sanctions against Russia in response to the naval clash, according to an interview published yesterday.
Groysman also criticised the planned expansion of a natural gas pipeline linking Russia and Germany – Nord Stream 2 – asserting that it drives the EU towards dependence on Russia.
“It is not just harmful for Ukraine, but for the whole continent,” Groysman said.
Ukraine is set to lose billions of dollars in transit fees as the gas corridor does not pass through its territory.
German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier has warned that the pipeline issue should not be mixed up with the Crimea tensions. |