Ukraine's election campaign opened as Russia widened its sanctions
A retrospective on 31 December 2018, when the presidential campaign began and a new Russian import ban had just been announced.
What did Ukraine's political calendar look like on 31 December 2018? That day, the presidential election campaign began in the country.
Two days earlier, on 29 December 2018, the government of the Russian Federation had widened its sanctions against Ukraine. Under the measures, imports of industrial goods, agricultural products and foodstuffs from Ukraine were banned, according to an approved list.
The two developments arrived almost together. The campaign opened with a new trade restriction from Russia already in place, covering several categories of goods.
For Ukrainian politics, the start of the campaign marked the formal opening of the contest for the presidency. The Russian measure, announced two days before, extended the existing set of sanctions into goods trade, as reported at the time.
