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LPR leader calls personal Ukrainian sanctions recognition of his merits

Kiev's restrictive measures embrace 105 legal entities and 388 individuals, including high-ranking officials and a number of media employees from Russia and other countries

Leaders of Ukraine's unrecognized self-proclaimed republics, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko Alexander Khudoteply/TASS

Leaders of Ukraine's unrecognized self-proclaimed republics, Igor Plotnitsky and Alexander Zakharchenko

© Alexander Khudoteply/TASS

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said that inclusion of his name in Ukraine’s sanctions list means that his merits in the cause of establishing LPR have been recognized.

"I perceive that not only as absurdity and agony of [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko, but also as recognition of my merits and the merits of my colleagues in the establishment of the LPR, whose existence Maidan rulers of Kiev dislike so much," the LuganskInformCenter news agency quoted Plotnitsky as saying.

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He said his name on the list testifies to the correctness of his actions as the republic’s head.

On Wednesday, September 16, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko approved Ukraine's sanctions list comprising head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko and LPR leader Plotnitsky, as well as ministers and senior lawmakers of the self-proclaimed republics.

Overall, Kiev's restrictive measures embrace 105 legal entities and 388 individuals, including high-ranking officials and a number of media employees from Russia and other countries.

In particular, employees of TASS, RIA Novosti, Izvestiya and Rossiyskaya Gazeta publications, RUPTLY news agency, Vzglyad.ru, NTV, Channel 1, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency Dmitry Kiselyov found themselves under sanctions.

The restrictive measures against blacklisted persons include visa bans and asset freezes.

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