Following further reports of abhorrent attacks on civilians in
Ukraine this week, the Foreign Secretary has today announced a
significant ratcheting up of UK sanctions on Russia.
As a leading voice calling for international action, the UK’s
fifth package of measures will cut off key sectors of the Russian
economy and end our dependency on Russian energy. Today’s
measures have been delivered in lockstep with our global allies
as the EU has also banned imports of Russian coal and the US has
sanctioned SberBank.
Announcing the package, Foreign Secretary said:
"Today, we are stepping up our campaign to bring Putin's
appalling war to an end with some of our toughest sanctions
yet."
"Our latest wave of measures will bring an end to the UK's
imports of Russian energy and sanction yet more individuals and
businesses, decimating Putin’s war machine.
"Together with our allies, we are showing the Russian elite
that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities
committed on Putin's orders. We will not rest until Ukraine
prevails."
Key sanctions announced today include:
- Asset freezes against
Sberbank and Credit Bank of Moscow. Sberbank is Russia’s largest
bank and this freeze is being taken in co-ordination with the US.
- An outright ban on all new
outward investment to Russia. In 2020 UK investment in Russia was
worth over £11bn. This will be another major hit to the Russian
economy and further limit their future capabilities.
- By the end of 2022, the UK
will end all dependency on Russian coal and oil, and end imports
of gas as soon as possible thereafter. From next week, the export
of key oil refining equipment and catalysts will also be banned,
degrading Russia’s ability to produce and export oil – targeting
not only the industry’s finances but its capabilities as a whole.
- Action against key Russian
strategic industries and state owned enterprises. This includes a
ban on imports of iron and steel products, a key source of
revenue. Russia’s military ambitions are also being thwarted by
new restrictions on its ability to acquire the UK’s
world-renowned quantum and advanced material technologies.
- And targeting a further
eight oligarchs active in these industries, which Putin uses to
prop up his war economy. They include:
-
Viatcheslav (Moshe) Kantor, the largest
shareholder of fertilizer company Acron with vital strategic
significance for the Russian government
-
Andrey Guryev - known close associate of
Vladimir Putin and founder of PhosAgro - a vital strategic
company that produces fertilizers.
-
Sergey Kogogin, director of Kamaz –
manufacturer of trucks and buses, including for the Russian
military.
-
Sergey Sergeyevich Ivanov, President of the
world’s largest diamond producer Alrosa, which the UK also
sanctioned.
-
Leonid Mikhelson, the founder, and CEO of
leading Russian natural gas producer Novatek, with a net worth
of £18bn.
-
Andrey Akimov, the CEO of Russia’s third
largest bank Gazprombank.
-
Aleksander Dyukov, the CEO of Russia’s third
largest and majority state-owned oil producer
GazpromNeft.
-
Boris Borisovich Rotenberg, son of the
co-owner of Russia’s largest gas pipeline producer SGM. The
Rotenberg family are known for their close connections to Putin
and a number of them have already been sanctioned.
At tomorrow’s meeting of G7 Foreign Ministers the Foreign
Secretary will call for further collective action, including an
accelerated timetable for all G7 countries to end their
dependency on Russian energy.
She will also call for continued G7 unity in imposing further
co-ordinated waves of sanctions against the Russian economy and
elites around Putin, until Russia withdraws its troops and ends
its brutal campaign of aggression against Ukraine once and for
all.
Background:
Asset freeze
- An asset freeze prevents anyone in the UK, or any UK national
or registered company anywhere in the world, from dealing with
any funds or economic resources which are owned, held or
controlled by the designated person. It will also prevent funds
or economic resources being provided to or for the benefit of the
designated person.
Travel ban
- A travel ban means that the designated person must be refused
leave to enter or to remain in the United Kingdom, providing the
individual to be an excluded person under section 8B of the
Immigration Act 1971.
Transport sanctions
- Recently introduced powers make it a criminal offence for any
Russian aircraft to fly or land in the UK, and give the
government powers to remove aircraft belonging to designated
Russian individuals and entities from the UK aircraft register,
even if the sanctioned individual is not on board. Russian ships
are also banned from UK ports.
Notes to Editors:
- On 13 April secondary legislation will be laid banning the
import of iron and steel products and the export of quantum
technologies and advanced materials, as well as the export of
luxury goods.
- Today’s announcement brings the total of banks sanctioned to
18, with assets worth £940bn. It also means 82 oligarchs and
their family members have been sanctioned, with assets worth over
£170bn.
