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Ukraine’s foreign ministry unauthorized to ban foreigners from entering Ukraine - minister

KIEV, December 24, /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s foreign ministry is unauthorized to take decisions about banning foreign citizens to enter the country, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara told a news conference on Tuesday.

The comment came after a number of Ukrainian mass media had published information about an initiative from a lawmaker with the ruling Party of Regions, Oleg Tserev, to ban entry to Ukraine to 36 foreigners, including Georgia’s former President Mikhail Saakashvili, whom he suspected of seeking to “destabilize the situation in Ukraine.”

Kozhara said that in line with the national law a person may be banned from entering Ukraine in case there were sound grounds. Such a ban may be issued by authorized agencies, such as Ukraine’s Security Service, the interior ministry, the State Border Service and the State Migration Control Service.

“Since the foreign ministry is not listed among such agencies, it cannot take such decisions,” he stressed. “I haven’t seen [Tsarev’s] request yet.

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