HUNDREDS of wealthy Russians and Belarusians have been added to the UK’s sanctions list under a new law fast-tracked through parliament.
The Foreign Secretary announced penalties against 370 people and entities, including 51 oligarchs and their relatives, with an estimated combined wealth of more than £100bn.
Liz Truss said the move had been made possible thanks to the new Economic Crime Bill, which aims to tackle the influx of dirty money into the UK from Russia and other regimes.
Included on the latest sanctions list are current and former political figures such as Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Other close allies of Vladimir Putin - his press Secretary Dmitry Peskov and his foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova - have also been hit with sanctions along with a notorious internet troll farm, the Internet Research agency.
The Foreign Secretary said: “We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin – from major oligarchs, to his Prime Minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation.
“We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.
“Working closely with our allies, we will keep increasing the pressure on Putin and cut off funding for the Russian war machine.”
The latest sanctions bring the total number of individuals and entities penalised by the UK as a result of the Ukrainian war to 1000
It comes after the Treasury announced a ban on the export of luxury products and a 35% tariff on others in an attempt to stop Putin’s cronies from gaining access to top-of-the-range products.
The export ban, which will come in to force shortly, will see goods such as high-end fashion items, luxury cars and works of art banned from being exported to Russia.
Items which will be affected by the additional 35% tariff on import to the UK include Russian vodka, iron, steel, cement, cereals, fur and skins, tyres, antiques, works of art and white fish.
International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with our international partners in our determination to punish Putin for his barbaric actions in Ukraine, and we will continue our work to starve his regime of the funds that enable him to carry them out.
“The World Trade Organization is founded on respect for the rule of law, which Putin has shown he holds in contempt. By depriving his government of key benefits of WTO membership, we are denying him further resource for his invasion.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak added: “Our new tariffs will further isolate the Russian economy from global trade, ensuring it does not benefit from the rules-based international system it does not respect.
“These tariffs build on the UK’s existing work to starve Russia’s access to international finance, sanction Putin’s cronies and exert maximum economic pressure on his regime.”
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