Blogger detained for treason in western Ukraine; Russia bans EU leadership after sanctions

Moscow: Russia on Thursday said it will expand the list of EU figures banned from entering the country following Western sanctions over Moscow’s military actions in Ukraine.

Russia has been hit with a barrage of sanctions after it launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. "The restrictions apply to the top leadership of the European Union including a number of European commissioners and heads of EU military structures as well as the vast majority of members of the European Parliament promoting anti-Russian policies," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Others include "high-ranking officials... as well as public figures and media workers who are personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inciting Russophobic sentiment and infringing the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population," the statement added.

The ministry said the EU delegation in Moscow had been informed, adding that "any hostile sanctions" from the EU and its members would elicit a "harsh response".

Meanwhile, Ukraine: A Ukrainian social media blogger has been detained for treason for "supporting" the Russian invasion, the country’s SBU security service said on Thursday, and could face up to 15 years in jail.

"The special services have stopped the activities of a scandalous ‘journalist’ who was engaged in activities detriment to Ukraine’s information security," the SBU’s Lviv branch said on Facebook.

"Exploiting the media, the traitor supported the criminal actions of the aggressor country," it said. It alleged that the man’s material had been "successfully used by Russian media to justify criminal actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine".

Ukrainian media identified the man as 33-year-old Gleb Lyashenko, saying he had been taken into custody, with a bail of four million hryvnias (around $135,500 dollars, 122,000 euros) for his release.