UK alerts Russia of sanctions against Kremlin-linked individuals companies

UK alerts Russia of sanctions against Kremlin-linked individuals companies. 

LONDON: Britain will impose sanctions on individuals and businesses with close connections to the Kremlin should Russia decides to take “further action” against Ukraine according to a senior British official told the BBC on Monday.

Since the demise of the Soviet Union beginning in the year 1991, London became the most important global hub for the massive flow of funds from the former Soviet republics.

People who oppose President Vladimir Putin have deployed troops in large numbers near Ukraine and have repeatedly urged the West to be tough. 

Western economic sanctions could target Russia on Russian money, even though the oligarchs, as well as Russian officials, continue to boast about their wealth in Europe’s most luxurious locations.

“We are very clear that if Russia takes further action against Ukraine, then we will further tighten the sanctions regime targeting those businesses and people with the closest links to the Kremlin,” Simon Clarke, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said to Sky News.

The United States, the European Union, and Britain have warned Putin against an attack on Ukraine.

Russia has denied plans to attack Ukraine and is seeking security guarantees, including a pledge by NATO not to allow Kyiv to join NATO. 

Russian officials claim that the West is engulfed by Russophobia and has no reason to impart advice to Moscow about how to behave following NATO’s expansion to the east after the Cold War ended.

The British government is expected to introduce new legislation this week that will increase the severity of sanctions it could apply to Russia to discourage aggression against Ukraine, foreign secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday.

Britain has been imposing sanctions against approximately 180 people and 48 organizations since Russia took over Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

The list of sanctioned individuals includes six individuals Britain believes are close to Putin, including businessmen Yuri Kovalchuk, Arkady Rotenberg, and Nikolai Shamalov, former KGB officer Sergei Chemezov, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, and Federal Security Service (FSB) head Alexander Bortnikov.

The sanctions permit Britain to block individual assets and prohibit individuals from entering the United Kingdom.

They also prohibit individuals from dealing with any after 2014 transferable money market or security with having a maturity greater than 30 days that is issued through Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), Rosselkhozbank, OPK Oboronprom, United Aircraft Corporation, Uralvagonzavod, Rosneft, Transneft or Gazprom Neft.