15:30 26.05.2016

Ukrainian Security Service confirms imposing 5-year entry ban on Gorbachev

1 min read
Ukrainian Security Service confirms imposing 5-year entry ban on Gorbachev

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) has imposed a five-year entry ban on former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, as SBU spokesperson Olena Hitlianska told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

"It's true, we have barred [Gorbachev] for five years in the interests of national security, particularly for publicly supporting Crimea's military annexation," Hitlianska said.

The SBU said later on Twitter: "Mikhail Gorbachev is barred from entering Ukraine for 5 years for publicly supporting Crimea annexation."

The Sunday Times magazine earlier quoted Gorbachev as saying, in an exclusive interview, that he backed Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to reincorporate Crimea into Russia, and that he would have acted the same way as Putin if he had found himself in a similar situation.

Following this, Ukrainian parliamentarian Anton Heraschenko of the Popular Front faction announced his plans to send a proposal to the EU Delegation to Ukraine to bar Gorbachev from entering EU countries. He also said Gorbachev would be put on the Ukrainian black list.

Gorbachev told Interfax-Ukraine in commenting on this, that he had not planned and was not planning on travelling to Ukraine under its current leadership.

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