Zelenskyy approved NSDC sanctions — what exactly

This is stated in Zelensky's decrees No. 67 and No. 68 of February 5, published on the president's website.

The sanctions package specifically included the following tanker captains:

• Liberty Mykola Tsoma,

• Bolero Grigory Motaylenko,

• Cassiopeia Alexander Yurpalov,

• Callisto Alexander Filkin.

All of these tankers are under US, UK, and EU sanctions, and their operator is the sanctioned company Sovcomflot, which is also under US and UK sanctions.

Sanctions have also been imposed on:

• Yevgeny Bezrukov, captain of the tanker Moti, operated by Gatik Ship Management, one of the largest shipowners of the shadow fleet,

• Igor Kucherov, captain of the tanker Fjord Seal, operated by Prominent Shipmanagement Limited (registered in Hong Kong),

• Iranian citizen Ali Mohseni, captain of the tanker Daksha, operated by Oceanlink Maritime DMCC (registered in the UAE).

The expected impact of the sanctions is to synchronize with sanctions already imposed by partners and encourage partners to impose new sanctions, which will limit the shadow fleet's ability to recruit experienced captains, as they will be exposed to the risk of having their assets frozen and their entry banned from a number of countries. This will increase the shadow fleet's costs and complicate its operations.

Thus, for the first time, the captains of the shadow fleet will bear individual responsibility for assisting the Russian Federation in circumventing the oil price ceiling, and the sanctions will force those working for the aggressor's tanker fleet to pay a personal price for this, and will make it more difficult for the Russian Federation to find new captains for its vessels.

Sanctions are also being introduced against persons responsible for the destruction of Ukrainian cultural identity by conducting illegal archaeological excavations in the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea and the removal of cultural values from the territory of Ukraine.

In particular, they included:

• First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Sergey Obryvalin,

• Deputy Minister Volodymyr Osintsev,

• Head of the Department of State Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation Roman Rybalo,

• Director of the sanctioned Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolai Makarov, who issued permits for illegal archaeological excavations in Crimea.

Sanctions have also been imposed on:

• President of the Union of Museums of Russia, Director General of the sanctioned "State Hermitage" Mikhail Piotrovsky,

• Director of the sanctioned "Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts" Elizaveta Likhacheva,

• the head of archaeological expeditions, Sergei Solovyov, who was directly involved in illegal excavations on the territory of Tavrichesky Chersonese, a UNESCO monument.

Among persons with dual citizenship (a total of 18 people), sanctions were imposed, in particular, on:

• First Deputy "Minister of Culture of the Republic of Crimea" Olga Burova, appointed to this position by the occupation administration,

• the director of the Melitopol Museum of Local Lore, Yevgeny Horlachev, who gave the occupiers information about the storage location of the "Scythian Gold" and received an order from the occupation authorities for this,

• Head of the Department of History and Archaeology of Ancient and Medieval Crimea at the sanctioned "Vernadsky Crimean Federal University" Elzara Khairedinova, who is leading an illegal archaeological expedition in the occupied territory of Crimea.

Illegally registered in the occupied territories under the legislation of the Russian Federation are museums that operate on the basis of expropriated cultural values: "State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve "Tavrian Chersonese", "Eastern Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve", "Central Museum of Taurida".

Expected impact of sanctions: blocking the assets of individuals involved in the theft of Ukraine's cultural heritage; drawing the attention of partner countries to the aggressor state's illegal archaeological excavations in the TOT, encouraging them to introduce their own sanctions that will deprive these individuals of the opportunity to participate in international cultural events and promote their propaganda narratives there.