WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland is imposing sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs and companies, the interior minister said on Tuesday, as it seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Those on the list include billionaire Mikhail Fridman, aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska and Eugene Kaspersky, founder of Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky.
“This is the first sanctions list … it has 50 positions, there are oligarchs and companies that do real business (in Poland),” Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski told a news conference.
“It is likely, almost certain, that this list will be widened.”
The sanctions include the freezing of assets and a ban on entering Poland.
Poland has consistently argued for tougher sanctions against Russia and has previously said it will impose an embargo on Russian coal imports by May and stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022.
Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West says this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by President Vladimir Putin.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Robert Birsel)
