We began discussing sanctioning people from Georgia and Belarus - McFaul

Mike McFaul, former US ambassador to Russia and coordinator of the Russia Sanctions Group created by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, says the group is beginning to discuss sanctions and is considering people from Georgia and Belarus. According to him, sanctions will apply to persons who support Putin's war.

He spoke on this topic on the air of "Palitranews". McFaul wouldn't name specific names and said the group would have to come to an agreement on the matter.

The group I coordinate is international, independent and non-partisan. We have Americans, Ukrainians, Europeans, even Russians participating in this group, but we are in close coordination with the Ukrainian, British, American governments to develop new ideas of what can be done, we help them solve the issues, we give them advice, not the other way around. As for names, individuals, we are establishing lists of individuals to be approved. Working document #3 lays out criteria for how to expand the list of sanctioned individuals, which reaches thousands inside Russia.

Our group has not yet discussed sanctioning people from other countries, but we are now starting to discuss this very issue. In particular, we are considering people from Georgia and Belarus, and I think this should be done. I can't talk about names yet, because we have to come to an agreement on that, but I think there will undoubtedly be individuals in your country and in Belarus who support Putin's war, and they should face consequences," McFaul said.