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Ukrainian president threatens tougher sanctions against Russia

Sanctions against Russia may be tightened in case Russia does not return to the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Poroshenko’s press secretary wrote in his Twitter

KIEV, September 21./TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday Russia could face tougher sanctions in case it failed to comply with the Minsk agreements.

"Sanctions against Russia may be tightened if Russia does not return to the implementation of the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko’s press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko wrote on his Twitter page citing the president as saying at Sagaydachny Academy of Land Forces in the western city of Lviv.

The times of "thoughtless pacifism are over," Poroshenko said, adding that Ukraine would see "a permanent military threat from the east". "That is why, the army is always in the center of attention," the president said, noting that the academy had got the status of a national one.

On September 16, President Poroshenko signed a decree unveiling sanctions for one year against 388 individuals, including high-ranking officials and journalists from Russia and other countries. All of them are subject to entry ban and also assets freeze in Ukraine.

Russian journalists on the blacklist work for news agencies TASS, RIA Novosti, RUPTLY TV, Vzdlyad.ru, daily newspapers Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and broadcasters NTV and Channel One. Media holding Rossiya Segodnya's Director General, Dmitry Kiselev, is also named.

Poroshenko’s decree says those on the blacklist "threaten national security…promote terrorist activity and violate people’s rights, interests of citizens and the state."

Ukraine’s sanctions list also targets 105 legal entities, including Russian flag carrier Aeroflot and around 20 Russian airlines that have been banned from flights, air haulage services or transits via the Ukrainian territory.

"This decision comes in clear coordination with partners from the European Union, the US and other countries," the president said commenting on the sanctions.