Ukraine approves sanctions against Russian ally Iran for 50 years: Parliament

AFP , Monday 29 May 2023

Kyiv's parliament on Monday approved a 50 years sanctions package against Russia's ally Iran, accused of sending weapons to Moscow during its more than year-long invasion of Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy
File Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stands beside a downed Iranian Shahed drone. Photo courtesy of the office of the President of Ukraine

 

The package was approved by parliament, one day after Ukraine said Russia used Iranian Shahed drones in the largest UAV attack on the capital since the beginning of the invasion.

"The resolution synchronises Ukrainian sanctions with the actions of the entire civilised world on the path to the complete isolation of Iran," the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament said on its website.

The package includes a ban on "military and dual-use goods" with Iran and the "suspension of economic and financial obligations in favour of residents of Iran."

328 parliamentarians supported the introduction of sanctions against the Islamic State of Iran.

It still needs to be signed into law by Zelenskyy, a formality as the Ukrainian leader submitted the bill himself.

Zelenskyy had last week appealed directly to Iranians, asking: "Why do you want to be accomplices in Russian terror?"

His adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said Sunday that Kyiv was hit by dozens of Shahed drones and called Iran a "terrorist regime."

"Tehran has become a key ally of Moscow in this war, deliberately supplying it with weapons for attacks on civilian cities," Podolyak said on Twitter.

Tehran has struck back by saying this was an attempt by Zelenskyy to gain the West's military and financial support.

"The repetition of false claims by the Ukrainian president against the Islamic Republic is in line with the propaganda and media war of the anti-Iranian axis against Iran’s government and people with the aim of securing as much arms and financial aid as possible from Western countries," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement on Saturday,

* This story was edited by Ahram Online

Short link: