36 Foreign Nationals Temporarily Banned from Entering Ukraine

Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is among the 36 foreign nationals banned from entering Ukraine in the period November-December. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Ukraine's Security Service has confirmed that it has imposed a temporary entry ban on a number of foreign citizens.

The authority issued a statement saying that it had temporarily banned a number of foreign nationals from entering Ukraine in the period November-December to protect national security interests.

Ukraine's Security Service, as cited by RIA Novosti, noted Wednesday that it had not drawn up a list of personae non-gratae but had made the decisions on an individual basis.

According to reports of Ukraine's "Kommersant" daily, the Foreign Ministry and the Ukrainian Security Service had banned the foreign nationals from entering the country over suspicions of collaboration with the opposition aimed at destabilizing Ukraine amid mass pro-EU protests.

The list of personae non-gratae includes former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, 29 other Georgian nationals, most of them businessmen, five U.S. citizens (mostly NGO members and academics) , and one Serbian citizen, according to the newspaper.

According to Ukraine's "Kommersant", the ban was requested by Oleg Tsarev, MP from the ruling Party of Regions, who expressed concern that"frequent visits of foreign political consultants" posed a threat to national security.

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