Britain on Tuesday (February 22) slapped sanctions on five Russian banks and three men, including Gennady Timchenko, who have close links to Vladimir Putin after the Kremlin chief ordered the deployment of troops to two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Kremlin was laying the ground for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and that the world should now brace for the next stage of Putin’s plan.
Johnson told parliament that five banks – Rossiya, IS Bank, GenBank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank – were being sanctioned, along with three people – Timchenko, Igor Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg.
“This is the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are prepared to do,” Johnson said.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have flowed into London and Britain’s overseas territories from Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and London has become the Western city of choice for the super-wealthy of Russia and other former Soviet republics.
According to a report, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new sanctions against five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals in the latest international backlash to Putin’s decision to send troops into eastern Ukraine.
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In a speech to lawmakers Tuesday in the House of Commons, Johnson said Moscow’s actions “amount to a renewed invasion of that country.” The prime minister described the measures as “the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are prepared to do,” adding the British government is prepared to impose more sanctions if the situation escalates further.
The measures target Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank.
Three “very high net worth” individuals were also hit: Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg. Any assets the individuals hold in the U.K. will be frozen, and they will be banned from traveling to the country, while all U.K. individuals and entities will be prohibited from having dealings with them, according to Johnson.
He added Western allies would continue to seek a diplomatic solution “until the last possible moment, but we have to face the possibility that none of our messages have been heeded and that Putin is implacably determined to go further in subjugating and tormenting Ukraine.”
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