Ukraine has declared Crimea a special economic zone / Photo by UNIAN

The NBU board imposed the ban with its Resolution No.699 of November 3, 2014. The resolution, which is posted on the NBU official Web site, comes into effect on November 5

“Residents are prohibited from investing in entities/facilities that are located or incorporated in Crimea,” the resolution text reads.

The treatment applied to transfers or payments from mainland Ukraine to Crimea or from Crimea to mainland Ukraine shall be the same as the treatment envisaged for funds transfered from abroad to Ukraine or from Ukraine to another country, as under the relevant NBU regulations.

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The resolution treats individuals and legal entities that are registered and have permanent residence in the Crimean free economic area as non-residents.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 16, following an illegal referendum on the status of Crimea, the self-proclaimed Crimean government announced that Crimea had joined the Russian Federation. The United States and the European Union did not recognize the referendum results, and imposed sanctions on Russian businessmen and government officials in response.

On May 7, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a resolution prohibiting Ukrainian banks from conducting business in Crimea until the Russian occupation was over. On June 24, the National Bank of Ukraine introduced emergency operations modes for banks in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and in Crimea.

On September 27, Ukraine passed a law declaring temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea a free economic area, and establishing special rules for conducting economic activity in Crimea and Sevastopol.