The UK has on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, slapped sanctions on five Russian banks and three billionaires, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson calls “the first barrage” of measures in response to the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine.
The five banks sanctioned include, Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank, with the three people sanctioned, who will see their UK assets frozen.
The individuals concerned are Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg, who will be barred from entering Britain and all UK individuals and entities will be banned from dealing with them and the banks.
Addressing the UK Parliament hours after Russia ordered troops into two Moscow-backed Ukrainian rebel regions, Mr. Johnson described the move as “a renewed invasion” of its western neighbour and “pretext for a full-scale offensive”.
“The UK and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared… to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin.”
Boris Johnson tells UK Members of Parliament.
Johnson, during his address in the House, added: “We cannot tell what will happen in the days ahead,” amid cross-party condemnation of Moscow’s actions.
“But… we should steel ourselves for a protracted crisis.”
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson
The announcement comes after Russia’s Ambassador to Britain, was called into the Foreign Ministry in London “to explain” its action, the foreign ministry said.
A Britain Foreign Ministry spokesperson added: “We made it clear to the Russian Ambassador that Russia would pay the price for its actions through further sanctions if it did not withdraw its troops.”
‘Need to do better’
Earlier Tuesday, February 22, 2022, Johnson chaired a meeting with security chiefs, after which he vowed measures to hit Moscow “very hard”.
Weeks ago, he pledged sanctions will “come down like a steel trap in the event of the first Russian toecap crossing into more sovereign Ukrainian territory”.
However, numerous British lawmakers, including members from the ruling Conservative party, were left underwhelmed by the steps outlined and urged Mr. Johnson to go further.
Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, noted the three oligarchs were sanctioned in the United States four years ago.
“We need to do better than that, prime minister,” Bradshaw said, urging more use of so-called unexplained wealth orders against Russians in Britain as well as reviews of high-net-worth UK visas granted to them.
Johnson insisted further sanctions are “at readiness to be deployed” if the Kremlin continued its aggression.
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Monday, February 21, 2022, recognised the independence of the rebel-held Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine and instructed the Defence Ministry to assume “the function of peacekeeping” in the separatist-held regions.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, that it was not planning to send troops to other parts of eastern Ukraine beyond the separatist areas “for now”.
However, Monday’s (February 21, 2022) move Russia’s Putin, intensified weeks of tensions and pricked Western diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation, after a massive build-up of troops on Ukraine’s border.
Successive governments in London, however, have faced sustained pressure to act against illicit Russian money circulating through the city’s financial markets in recent decades.
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