The Embassy of Ukraine in Lebanon said in a statement on Friday: “Since 2014 the Russian Federation has been actively engaged in a campaign of hostile military aggression against Ukraine. To date, almost 7 percent of Ukraine’s sovereign territory – including the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Eastern Ukraine – have been illegally occupied by Russia.

The international community, including the EU, has condemned this flagrant and destabilizing act of aggression and imposed sanctions and other restrictive measures against the Russian Federation. Despite these sanctions, Russia continues to conduct a ruthless occupation policy which is resulting in gross violations of human rights in the occupied territories, militarization of the peninsula and the brutal exploitation of Crimea’s natural resources and cultural heritage.

Russia deploys significant resources in finding ways to circumvent sanctions. It uses a range of economic, cultural and peer-to-peer contacts in its attempt to bestow ‘legitimacy’ on these illegally occupied Ukrainian territories.

Numerous foreign companies and individuals continue to fall victim to Russian manipulations which results in them facing EU sanctions and the serious consequences that this entails.

In an effort to protect foreign partners and individuals from unwittingly supporting Russia’s illegal actions, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is launching a new information campaign: Learn – Check – Act.

1.            Learn about restrictions imposed on Russia by the EU and Ukraine.

2.            Check with your counterparts in order to avoid unexpected problems which may arise in your business dealings with Russia.

3.            Act proactively to safeguard yourself against further aggressive actions which may be committed by Russia against Ukraine and other European countries.

You can support the campaign by:

●             sharing information about the campaign with your friends and colleagues;

●             downloading and sharing infographics on the EU’s current restrictive measures;

●             using the hashtags #LearnCheckAct, #Sanctions, #CrimeaIsUkraine.”