Zelensky imposes sanctions against 119 Russian cultural and sports figures

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky approved a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council to impose personal economic sanctions against some Russian cultural and sports figures. The list includes three individuals who hold Ukrainian citizenship.

They are:

• soccer coach Anatoly Timoshuk, who was one of the most decorated Ukrainian soccer players and now works for FC Zenit in St. Petersburg;
• television host Zhanna Badoyeva, who started her career on Ukrainian television and now works for the Russian network Pervy Kanal;
• singer Lolita Milyavskaya, who was born in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, lived in Lviv, worked in Odesa, now lives in Moscow, and was barred from entering Ukraine in 2015 after she performed in Crimea.

Other individuals coming under Ukrainian sanctions include some of Russia’s most well-known cultural figures:

• television host Leonid Yakubovich;
• film director Nikita Mikhalkov; 
• comedian Yevgeny Petrosyan, who recently mocked President Zelensky and openly supported Russia’s war with Ukraine;
• directors of Russian state information agency, Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan and Dmitry Kiselev;
• actors Dmitry Dyzhev, Dmitry Kharatyan, and Mikhail Galustyan; 
• and musicians Dmitry Bilan, Sergey Lazarev, Alexander Panayotov, Larisa Dolina, Valery Kipelov, Irina Allegrova, Philipp Kirkorov, Stas Pyekha, Loli, Mikhail Shuftinsky, Anita Tsoy, Sergey Bobunets, Vasily Bakulenko (Basta), and others.