Western Daily Press (Saturday)
UK sanctions 386 more to ‘tighten the screw’
BRITAIN has sanctioned nearly 400 Russian parliamentarians as ministers sought to “tighten the screw” on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said 386 members of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, are being banned from travelling to the UK and any assets they have in the country will be frozen. The Government originally announced its intention to sanction the parliamentarians last month over their support for the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The move follows the announcement on Thursday that seven more oligarchs linked to Vladimir Putin, including Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, were being subjected to similar measures.
In a statement, Ms Truss said: “We’re targeting those complicit in Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and those who support this barbaric war. We will not let up the pressure and will continue to tighten the screw on the Russian economy through sanctions.
“Together with our allies, we stand firmly beside our Ukrainian friends.
We will continue to support Ukraine with humanitarian aid, defensive weapons and diplomatic work to isolate Russia internationally.”
Downing Street declined to say whether any of the politicians have any assets in the UK.
The Duma move was first announced on February 22 and ministers are yet to target all the members of the Federation Council, the Russian parliament’s upper house.
But the UK has now sanctioned more than 500 high-value individuals and entities since the invasion of Ukraine began, while Russian aircraft – including oligarchs’ private jets – are banned from the UK.
In a speech in Washington on Thursday, Ms Truss said Western allies needed to continue to do more – including freezing all Russian banking assets and excluding Russia completely from the Swift global payments system.
“We want a situation where they can’t access their funds, they can’t clear their payments, their trade can’t flow, their ships can’t dock and their planes can’t land,” she said.
In its latest defence intelligence assessment, the Ministry of Defence said the Russians were looking to “reset and re-posture” their forces for “renewed offensive activity”, including operations against the capital, Kyiv. It said the Russian ground forces were continuing to make “limited progress” and that “logistical issues” continued to hamper their advance.
Meanwhile, military veterans are being urged not to travel to Ukraine to fight, in a letter sent by a minister to military charities.
A small number of serving British personnel are believed to have gone absent without leave to join the resistance against the Russian invasion, while veterans and Britons without combat experience have also travelled to Ukraine.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has already warned that those travelling to the conflict zone would not be there for “a selfie and six weeks” but would be in the war “for real”.
In an attempt to drive home that message, veterans minister Leo Docherty has written to armed forces charities to encourage those
tempted to travel to the warzone to instead turn their efforts to helping the Ukrainian people from the UK.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Mr Docherty used his letter to warn veterans that those travelling to spar with Russian troops “will put themselves at significant risk by entering into a conflict area”.
Mr Docherty said: “We know that Russia’s illegal invasion has rightly
brought out strong feelings of support for the Ukrainian people.
“Veterans always step up in times of need, but they must channel their skills, experience and passion into legal routes of support for Ukraine and not engage in the conflict.
“There are many ways that we all can support the people of Ukraine, including through donating money to charity.”