Whittingdale, UK MP: We Have Received Evidence that Russian Banks are Financing Separatists

Kyiv, April 16th, 2014 – John Whittingdale, UK Member of Parliament and Chairman of the British-Ukraine Group in Parliament, speaking at the Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, said of his visit to Ukraine: “I and seven of my colleagues from the British Parliament, both from the Conservative and Labour Parties, have been in Ukraine for the last three days to assess the situation first-hand. The purpose of our visit is to talk to leading Ukrainian politicians about the present situation and what can we do to assist. We will get back to our government and make the case for why Ukraine needs our help now”.

“The annexation of Crimea is completely unacceptable. We strongly support tough sanctions against Russia to demonstrate that we cannot tolerate its actions. We will be pressing for stronger measures to be imposed on the Russian administration”, the MP added.

“In terms of sanctions, there are two challenges. The first is that sanctions are effective only on an international scale, so we need to apply them across the whole EU. We will press for this. Secondly, we need to impose sanctions not only on individuals, but on financial institutions, as well. Here in Ukraine we have received evidence that certain Russian banks are directly involved in financing separatists and occupiers”, Mr. Whittingdale said.

Speaking about military issues, Mr. Whittingdale said that there is a case for providing assistance to the Ukrainian army, such as communications equipment, body armour, uniforms, and medicine.

Photo: dyvys.in

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