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Some 25Mln Ukrainians Affected by Kiev Blocking Russian Social Media in Country

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Some 25 million people will be affected by Ukraine’s new anti-Russia sanctions, blocking some Russian social media networks in the country, Russia’s Mail.Ru Group company said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to expand the list of sanctioned Russian individuals and legal entities and to extend the duration of these sanctions.

Russian social networks VK (VKontakte), Odnoklassniki and the Mail.ru internet service are on the list of entities sanctioned by Kiev.

"This decision will primarily affect the users – the citizens of Ukraine. Some 25 million Ukrainian residents communicate using the blocked platforms in Ukraine and in the whole world, they will now lose these connections," the company said in a statement.

 

Russia's most popular social network is VKontakte - Sputnik International
Russian Social Networks Among Entities Sanctioned by Ukraine
"We were disappointed by today’s news of clearly politically driven decision of Ukraine’s authorities to block VK, OK and Mail.Ru in Ukraine. This decision will, in the first place, damage the users – citizens of Ukraine. 25 million Ukrainians use these platforms to reach their friends and families in Ukraine and worldwide, now they will not be able to do that," the statement read.

The company has noted that it fully complies with the Ukrainian laws in its business activity in the country and does not participate in politics, according to the statement.

The group will not review its financial plans as the share of the revenue from Ukrainian market is insignificant, the company noted.

Kiev has imposed several rounds of anti-Moscow sanctions citing Russia's alleged meddling in the Ukrainian affairs. Russian officials have repeatedly refuted the allegations of both Kiev and its Western partners. Commenting on Tuesday's decision of the Ukrainian authorities, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow regarded Kiev's decision to expand sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities as another manifestation of an unfriendly and short-sighted policy against Russia.

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