KIEV, August 04. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Monday said it would ask Interpol to impose a travel ban on a Russian minister and two deputies of the State Duma, lower house of parliament.

The ministry has opened five criminal cases against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov and Liberal Democratic Party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s adviser Anton Gerashchenko said.

“We understand that they cannot be arrested in Russia. And so we are instituting various proceedings and planning to ask Interpol not to allow these persons to travel to other countries,” he said.

If Interpol does not support this call, Ukraine will appeal to European and North American countries to take such steps individually.

On July 25, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Main Investigative Department charged Shoigu, Zyuganov and Zhirinovsky with “sponsoring separatism”.

“These persons have been charged with financing activities aimed at changing the borders of territories and the state border of Ukraine,” the Interior Ministry’s adviser Zoryan Shkiryak said earlier.

The Interior Ministry also charged Shoigu with “creating unlawful paramilitary or armed groups”.