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Ukraine detains 3,000 tonnes of cargo from Russia — chief prosecutor

The chief prosecutor said the move came in response to Russia’s November 1 counter-sanctions against Ukraine

KIEV, November 1. /TASS/. Ukraine’s chief prosecutor, Yuri Lutsenko, said on Thursday a cargo shipment from Russia to Belgium, weighing more than 3,000 tonnes, has been detained in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol.

"Over 3,000 tonnes of products <...> manufactured at the Alchevsky steel mill, which were being transported to Belgium from a Russian port under the flag of Liberia, have been detained in the port of Mariupol," Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page.

According to the chief prosecutor, those guilty will face charges of financing terrorism, adding that the move came in response to Russia’s November 1 counter-sanctions against Ukraine.

On November 1, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government order implementing a presidential decree aimed at introducing "economic restrictions following Ukraine’s unfriendly actions towards Russian individuals and companies." The document imposes restrictions on 322 Ukrainian individuals and 68 companies. The measures include freezing non-cash funds, non-documentary securities and property in Russia and banning the transfer of outside Russia.

Russia’s sanctions will particularly apply to Ukrainian Constitutional Court judges, Verkhovna Rada (parliament) members, including its speaker Andrei Parubiy, as well as to big businessmen, presidential administration officials, other high-ranking state officials, big companies’ CEOs and entities controlled by the country’s biggest businessmen.

Ukraine earlier introduced sanctions against 1,228 individuals and 468 legal entities, including Russian government officials, politicians, company heads and reporters, some residents of Donbass (self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk) and a number of Russian companies.