Ukraine blacklists a Kremlin-controlled media holding company

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has added news outlets controlled by the Rossiya Segodnya media holding company to the country’s sanctions list, blocking access to publications like RIA Novosti, R-Sport, and Prime, and freezing RIA Novosti Ukraine’s local assets. Earlier in May, Ukrainian security agents arrested the chief editor of RIA Novosti Ukraine, charging him with treason for leading Moscow’s information warfare efforts in Kiev.

Russian officials responded by launching a criminal case, accusing Ukrainian officials of obstructing a journalist’s lawful activity and knowingly prosecuting an innocent person. In May 2017, Ukraine blocked several of the Russian Internet’s biggest services, including Vkontakte, Mail.ru, and Odnoklassniki.

This week, Poroshenko also extended Ukraine’s sanctions to the billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, and VTB chairman Andrey Kostin.