FIVE Russian banks and three wealthy individuals have been sanctioned by the United Kingdom (UK).
This comes after Moscow dispatched troops to two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
The sanction was the “first tranche” and “first barrage” of measures in response to Russian troops moving into two separatist regions of Ukraine, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech to parliament Today.
“Today, the UK is sanctioning the following five Russian banks: Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank, and we’re sanctioning three very high net worth individuals,” Johnson told parliament.
Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg are among the “high net worth” individuals.
Their assets in the UK will be frozen, and they will be barred from entering the country, he said.
Despite himself and several other world leaders allowing Putin to pursue his goals through diplomacy, Johnson said the move to sanction Russia had arisen.
“We will continue to seek a diplomatic solution until the last possible moment, but we have to face the possibility that none of our messages has been heeded and that Putin is implacably determined to go further in subjugating and tormenting Ukraine,” Johnson added.
“This the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are prepared to do, and we hold further sanctions at readiness to be deployed alongside the United States and the European Union if the situation escalates still further.”
According to Johnson, Russia and Putin have “plainly” violated Ukrainian sovereignty and “completely torn up international law.”
The European Union and the United States have also promised to impose severe penalties on those responsible for the invasion.
