No relevant grounds to put former Deputy Chief of Ukraine's Presidential Administration on sanction list – Danilov

The Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) hasn't imposed sanctions on Andrii Portnov, former pro-Russian Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration  because it has no relevant grounds.

Source: Oleksii Danilov, NSDC Secretary, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "We only work with documents. If no authority has submitted documents - it doesn't matter whether it's Portnov or some other name - we can't make up our own and follow our emotions."

Details: Meanwhile, Danilov added that it was "hard to say" why the relevant authorities had not yet provided the NSDC with the necessary documents regarding Portnov.

Background: Andrii Portnov is a former lawmaker, former Chief Judicial Officer of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych [former Russian-backed president of Ukraine], and former Deputy Head of the Administration  at the time.

Portnov ran the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne from 27 August to 5 October 2018.

A 2020 study by Internews Ukraine's UkraineWorld project found that Portnov took active steps to discredit the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, further pro-European reforms in the country, and promote anti-Western agendas by using internet bots.

Andrii Portnov has been under US sanctions since December 2021.

Journalists say Portnov left Ukraine in June 2022 through Zakarpattia.

Earlier, Danilov explained the absence of Ukrainian sanctions against Portnov by noting, "we have so many threats other than Portnov, and many, many threats like Portnov".

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