The European Union said it was freezing the financial assets of 18 people suspected of embezzlement of state property in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

The corresponding decision and the list of people against whom financial sanctions are applied were approved by the EU Council of Ministers on Wednesday. The list of names will be officially published on Thursday, March 6th. As sources explained to the agency, the list has not yet been disclosed so that those involved in it will not be able to quickly withdraw their assets from the European Union. Sanctions are imposed for a period of 12 months.

The Wall Street Journal, citing European diplomats, previously wrote that the EU is considering blocking the accounts of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and 17 other former Ukrainian officials.

According to the agency, the EU Council of Ministers also agreed on measures to facilitate the return of misappropriated Ukrainian public funds to Kyiv.

At the end of February, the Austrian Foreign Ministry announced that it had frozen the accounts of 18 Ukrainian citizens suspected of involvement in human rights violations and corruption. The names of the Ukrainians whose accounts were blocked were not specified. Following Austria, Swiss authorities blocked the bank accounts of 20 Ukrainian citizens. At the same time, Switzerland made public who the sanctions were imposed against. In particular, the accounts of former Prime Ministers of Ukraine Sergei Arbuzov and Nikolai Azarov, ex-Minister of Finance Yuriy Kolobov, ex-Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko, ex-Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Andrey Klyuev, and former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka were blocked. In addition, Switzerland blocked the accounts of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and his son Alexander.

The EU will freeze the accounts of 18 Ukrainian citizens