Ukraine's Rada committee calls on PM, SBU, NSDC to keep sanctions against Russian steelmaker

Head of the Verkhovna Rada committee on industrial policy and entrepreneurship Viktor Halasiuk has appealed to the Ukrainian Prime Minister, the SBU Security Service of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to keep recently lifted sanctions from the Moldova Steel Works (MMZ) located in the unrecognized Transnistria and owned by a Russian oligarch.

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"Instead of maintaining and toughening sanctions against Russian businesses, as is done by the United States and the European Union, the [Ukrainian] president enacted a decision taken by the National Security and Defense Council, which lifted sanctions from the Moldova Steel Works owned by a Russian oligarch and working for the aggressor's defense industry! The works is a direct competitor of Ukrainian iron and steel enterprises, which, together with rogue firms, leaves Ukraine's steelmaking industry without raw materials," he wrote on Facebook on March 27.

According to Halasiuk, "blatant facts of the smuggling of Ukrainian scrap metal have also been revealed. It seems that someone in the government wants to legalize this shameful scheme," the official said.

Halasiuk says he has called on the Prime Minister to reinstate sanctions against the MMZ.

"In order to prevent a crisis that threatens Ukraine's national and economic security, I call upon [the committee] to urgently submit a motion to the National Security and Defense Council to include the said companies in the list of entities subject to sanctions again," he stressed.