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Austria decides on freezing accounts of 18 Ukrainian citizens on Kiev’s demand

However, the Austrian Foreign Service does not disclose the list of people, whose accounts are supposed to be frozen

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz EPA/HANS KLAUS TECHT

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz

© EPA/HANS KLAUS TECHT

VIENNA, February 28. /ITAR-TASS/. Austrian authorities have decided on freezing the accounts of 18 Ukrainian citizens in local banks on the demand of Kiev. Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this on Friday.

“This is a temporary decision and it is valid until relevant EU sanctions come into effect,” the ministry’s representative noted, stressing that the resolution has been coordinated with the European diplomatic service, Austrian Finance Ministry and the chancellor.

“Our decision was a reply to a plea of the new Ukrainian government,” the written statement by Austria's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Integration Sebastian Kurz says. “We applied this preventive measure amid continuing discussions at the EU level on introducing new sanctions,” he noted. “By giving this direction to the National Bank, we’ve created a legal basis in order to find out the amount of funds on these accounts in Austria and to prevent their embezzlement.”

However, the Austrian Foreign Service does not disclose the list of people, whose accounts are supposed to be frozen.

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