UK targets more Russian officials, prominent figures with new sanctions

In its new sanctions imposed against Russia, the United Kingdom has targetted more Russian officials and prominent figures by freezing their assets and imposing travel bans against them, said a media report citing updated guidance published by the UK government on Tuesday.

The sanctions have been imposed against Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Kremlin administration chief Anton Vaino, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, lawmaker Irina Rodnina, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, among others, Sputnik reported.

Further, the sanctions also target Editor-in-Chief of the Russian media outlet RT broadcaster Margarita Simonyan, her husband and film director Tigran Keosayan, ice dancer and Peskov's wife Tatiana Navka, media personalities Vladimir Solovyev and Konstantin Ernst, as well as several prominent businessmen.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday said that the UK will continue to support Ukraine as they are tightening economic sanctions against Russia.

"President @ZelenskyyUa has mobilised world opinion against the brutality of Vladimir Putin. We will continue to support him and his people -tightening economic sanctions and providing support to help Ukrainians protect themselves from bombardment," tweeted Johnson.

Notably Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow in response to the Russian special military operation in Ukraine. The sanctions include airspace closures and restrictive measures targeting numerous Russian officials and entities, media, and financial institutions.

However, Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine and that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine, targeting only military infrastructure.

( With inputs from ANI )

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