Crimean Tatars To Try To Block Food, Goods Flow To Annexed Crimea
KYIV -- Crimean Tatars say they will start blocking food and goods flowing from Ukraine to the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed from Ukraine by Russia last year.
The head of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, who is also a Ukrainian lawmaker, said in the Ukrainian parliament on September 16 that the "long-term blockade" will start at noon on September 20. He called on other Ukrainian citizens to join the move.
Chubarov said that trucks carrying food and other goods will not be allowed to enter Crimea, while individuals and private vehicles will not be stopped.
Chubarov said the blockade will be coordinated from the town of Chonhar, which lies close to Crimea, and that three major roads will be targeted.
Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the Crimean Tatar initiative.
The list, however, is still available on Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council website. The Council was responsible for making this list.
Russian airlines could lose tens of millions of dollars due to newly implemented Ukrainian sanctions, according to TASS.
“Russian airlines that are sanctioned don’t transit much through Ukraine,” said the president of the Russian Association of Air Transport Operations, Vladimir Tasun.
“If transit to Europe, even Turkey, through Ukraine will be prohibited, sanctions will put a certain pressure on carriers who already have serious financial troubles. The amount that they may lose may equal to dozens of millions of dollars,” he added.
Russian planes might lose up to 40 minutes on each flight by being forced to fly around Ukraine, Tasun said.
Kremlin Condemns Media Inclusion In Ukraine Sanctions
The Kremlin says Ukraine's decision to sanction many media representatives is "totally unacceptable."
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 17 that Moscow strongly condemned the move, saying "it does not correspond with the principles of freedom."
On September 16, Ukraine barred a few dozen reporters, including three BBC journalists, from entering the country as an unspecified security threat.
The media representatives were part of a sanctions list signed by President Petro Poroshenko barring nearly 400 individuals from entering Ukraine, including BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg and producer Emma Wells, both British, and Russian cameraman Anton Chicherov.
Also on the list of banned journalists are Antonio Pampliega and Angel Sastre, two Spanish reporters who disappeared in Syria in July and are believed to have been kidnapped by the Islamic State militant group, and two reporters for Russian news agencies in South Africa and Turkey with no clear links to Ukraine.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement that it was "dismayed" by Poroshenko's actions.
"While the government may not like or agree with the coverage, labeling journalists a potential threat to national security is not an appropriate response," said the committee's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Nina Ognianova.
Based on reporting by Interfax and Reuters