The UK on Thursday imposed sanctions on seven Russian oligarchs, including Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska, among others under which their assets have been frozen.
Sanctions are also imposed against Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin, Gazprom head Alexey Miller, VTB Chairman Andrey Kostin, Transneft President Nikolai Tokarev and Dmitri Lebedev, the chairman of the board of directors of Rossiya Bank.
"Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has today (Thursday 10 March) announced a full asset freeze and travel ban on seven of Russia's wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, whose business empires, wealth and connections are closely associated with the Kremlin," read the UK government's press release.
As part of the UK's leading efforts to isolate Putin and those around him, these oligarchs - who have a collective net worth of around pound 15 billion - will have their assets in the UK frozen, they are banned from travelling here and no UK citizen or company may do business with them.
"The Economic Crime Bill coming into force next week will also significantly simplify the process of imposing sanctions, allow the UK to more easily sanction individuals, stop oligarchs threatening the UK with multi-million-pound lawsuits for damages at the taxpayer's expense and also allow the UK to mirror allies' designations," added the release.
"There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin's invasion. Today's sanctions are the latest step in our ruthless pursuit of those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals and illegal occupation of Ukraine," tweeted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"Today's sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin, they are complicit in his aggression. The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame. Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine," said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
These sanctions are the latest step in the UK's response to Putin's illegal and unprovoked invasion, designed to ensure he fails in Ukraine by crippling Russia's economy supporting his war machine, added the release.
The UK has already sanctioned more than 200 of Russia's most significant and high-value individuals, entities and subsidiaries since the invasion, with over 500 of them now covered by the UK's sanctions list.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is holding a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba in Turkey's Antalya.
"In #Antalya, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov holds a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry #Kuleba," tweeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.
( With inputs from ANI )
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