Ukraine has banned a new Russian banknote that includes images from the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea.
The National Bank of Ukraine announced on October 13 that the new Russian 200 ruble ($3.50) bill showing a memorial in Sevastopol, a ruin in Chersonesus, and a map of Crimea would be illegal in Ukraine beginning on October 17. Banks and exchanges will not accept them.
The bank's statement said the ban covers any Russian currencies depicting "maps, symbols, buildings, monuments" or other objects "based in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia."
Russia presented the new banknote on October 12.
Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a standoff since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and began offering military, economic, and political support to separatists in parts of eastern Ukraine.
Although Russia denies military involvement in the conflict, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2016 determined the conflict to be "an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation."
More than 10,000 people have been killed, at least 23,900 have been injured, and some 1.6 million people have been displaced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine since the spring of 2014.
With reporting by AFP
