President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting a decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions on Russian scholars, heads of so-called occupation administrations, and organizations supporting Russia’s aggression. The Office of the President of Ukraine reported this.
The sanctions target entities involved in spreading Russian propaganda, distorting historical facts, stealing cultural assets, and appropriating documents from Ukraine’s National Archival Fund. The list includes 29 individuals, among them Russian propagandist Alexander Chubaryan, co-author of a Russian school history textbook that justifies aggression against Ukraine, as well as pseudo-historian Alexey Miller and Artem Lagoyskyi, who heads the so-called “Ministry of Culture of the Kherson Region” and assists the occupation authorities.
In addition, restrictions have been imposed on 15 Russian organizations and bodies of so-called occupation administrations involved in supporting aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories, falsifying historical facts, looting cultural assets from museums and reserves in Crimea, appropriating documents from Ukraine’s National Archival Fund, and using them for the benefit of the aggressor.
“We have introduced sanctions against cultural colonization — against those who for decades distorted the history of Ukraine and imposed imperial narratives. This is not about culture as such, but a component of hybrid warfare aimed at undermining our identity and statehood,” said Presidential Sanctions Policy Advisor Vladyslav Vlasiuk.
All relevant information will be shared with partners to further synchronize sanctions across international jurisdictions.