Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the U.K.’s biggest ever set of sanctions against Russia, targeting the country’s banks, billionaires and national air carrier in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions add to a more limited set of measures announced earlier in the week.
The U.K. measures announced Thursday are:
- An asset freeze against all major Russian banks, including an immediate freeze Thursday against VTB, Russia’s second largest bank
- Legislation to stop all major Russian companies from raising finance on U.K. markets, and also to prohibit the Russian state from raising sovereign debt on U.K. markets. The new law will come into force Tuesday
- Sanctions on over 100 individuals, entities and their subsidiaries, including Rostec, Russia’s biggest defense company. Wealthy individuals include:
- Kirill Shamalov, Russia’s youngest billionaire and Putin’s former son-in-law
- Petr Fradkov, head of Promsvyazbank (itself already sanctioned) and son of former head of FSB
- Denis Bortnikov, deputy president of VTB
- Yury Slyusar, director of United Aircraft Corp.
- Elena Georgieva, chair of the board of Novicom Bank
- Imminent ban on Aeroflot planes landing in the U.K.
- Immediate ban on all exports of goods that could have military use, such as electrical components and truck parts
- Legislation within days to prohibit a range of hi-tech exports such as semiconductors and aircraft parts as well as goods for the extractive industries, such as oil refinery equipment
- Limit deposits by Russian nationals in U.K. bank accounts to 50,000 pounds ($67,000)
- All sanctions also apply to Belarus
- Accelerate passage of an economic crime bill to target illicit Russian money in the U.K.
Never miss a story: Follow your favorite topics and authors to get a personalized email with the journalism that matters most to you.