The UK has sanctioned two new billionaire allies. Vladimir Putin,
Amid growing pressure to speed up the crackdown on. Russian oligarchs, with delays blamed on legal issues and poor preparation.
A “hit list” of more than 100. Russian oligarchs were prepared and released.
The telecoms magnate. Usmanov owns the £48m palatial. Beechwood. House in Highgate and the 16th-century Sutton. Place estate in. Surrey, and has had significant interests in the. English football clubs Arsenal and. Everton. Shuvalov, the former deputy. Russian billionaire and former PM has assets including two. Luxury apartments in central. London is worth an estimate. £11m.
The EU sanctioned both of them.
In a coordinated move the. US government announced “full blocking sanctions” on eight. “Russian billionaire and former PM elites and their family members who enable Putin”. Those sanctioned include Usmanov and. Shuvalov as well as Nikolai Tokarev, chief executive of the energy company. Transneft, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press spokesperson, and. Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman nicknamed. “Putin’s chef”.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, announced plans to establish a cross-government oligarch task force to help build cases against its targets.
Government sources blamed the slow pace on amendments to the. 2018 sanctions law, but the crossbench peer Lord. Pannick who proposed the changes said they should not mean the. The UK must act slower than the. EU, which has named significantly more individuals linked to. Putin.
The government is preparing to toughen up the long-delayed economic crime bill after pressure. Labour – including cutting the implementation period from. 18 months to six for a new register revealing the ultimate owners of UK properties. Labour had called for a cut to 28 days.
Government sources said. Truss was pursuing changes to limit the number of damages that could be incurred should those who have their assets frozen and seized for close ties. Putin’s regime challenges them in the courts.
Ukraine has been war-torn now for the twelfth continuous day. It has constantly been asking for help from its allies and neighbors. Help is yet to arrive.
We have. Ukraine in our thoughts. We hope the situation betters soon.