UK hits Russia with harsh trade sanctions, freezes assets, goes after Russians with unexplained wealth

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has unveiled the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions that Russia has ever seen.

In his statement to the House of Commons today on the Ukraine invasion, Johnson categorically stated that Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin will stand condemned in the eyes of the world and of history for his actions.

“He will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands. And though the UK and our allies tried every avenue for diplomacy until the final hour, I am driven to conclude that Putin was always determined to attack his neighbour, no matter what we did. Now we see him for what he is: A bloodstained aggressor who believes in imperial conquest,” PM Johnson stated.

In concert with the United States, he announced that the UK is imposing a full asset freeze on VTB, Russia’s second largest lender.

“More broadly, these powers will enable us to totally exclude Russian banks from the UK financial system, which is of course by far the largest in Europe, stopping them from accessing Sterling and clearing payments through the UK,” the Prime Minister explained.

Given that around half of Russia’s trade is currently in US dollars and sterling, Johnson was also pleased to tell the House that the United States is taking similar measures. He said this course of action will enable the UK to ban Russian state and private companies from raising funds in the UK, as well as ban dealing with their securities and making loans to them.

He said the UK will also limit the amount of money that Russian nationals will be able to deposit in their UK bank accounts.

Overall, Johnson said the UK will be imposing asset freezes on more than 100 new entities and individuals
on top of the hundreds already announced. He said this includes all the major manufacturers that support Putin’s war machine.

On top of these financial measures and in full concert with the United States and the European Union, Johnson said the UK will introduce new trade restrictions and stringent export controls, similar to those they, in the US, are implementing.

He said too that plans are underway to bring forward new legislation to ban the export of all dual-use items to Russia, including a range of high-end and critical technological equipment and components in sectors including electronics, telecommunications, and aerospace.

Legislation to implement this will be laid early next week, the Prime Minister revealed. He said these trade sanctions will constrain Russia’s military-industrial and technological capabilities for years to come.

Importantly, Johnson announced that the UK will be bringing forward measures on unexplained wealth orders from the Economic Crime Bill to be introduced before the House rises for Easter.

Johnson said, “We will set up a new dedicated ‘Kleptocracy Cell’ in the National Crime Agency to target sanctions evasion and corrupt Russian assets hidden in the UK and that means oligarchs in London who have nowhere to hide.”

Johnson assured that his government “will continue on a remorseless mission to squeeze Russia from the global economy piece by piece, day by day and week by week.”

He concluded, “And we will of course use Britain’s position in every international forum to condemn the onslaught against Ukraine, and we will counter the Kremlin’s blizzard of lies and disinformation by telling the truth about Putin’s war of choice and war of aggression.”