Ukraine crisis: UK to impose sanctions on 5 Russian banks, 3 'very high-net worth individuals'
Britain will use newly approved parliamentary powers to impose pre-planned sanctions on "Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin," Johnson said.
Following the deployment of troops to two Moscow-backed regions of Ukraine, Britain will impose sanctions on five Russian banks and three "very high-net-worth individuals," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday. Britain will use newly approved parliamentary powers to impose pre-planned sanctions on "Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin," Johnson said.
"We don't know what will happen in the coming days," Johnson said after the sanctions were announced. "However, we should brace ourselves for a protracted crisis," he added. Sanctions will be imposed on Rossiya bank, IS bank, General bank, Promsvyazbank, and Black Sea bank.
"Using the new and unprecedented powers granted by this House to sanction Russian individuals and entities of strategic importance to the Kremlin, the UK and our allies will begin to impose the sanctions on Russia that we have already prepared," Johnson told Parliament.
According to Johnson, businessmen Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg, and Igor Rotenberg will have their assets in the UK frozen and will be barred from visiting the country. "This is the first tranche, the first bombardment, of what we are prepared to do," he continued, "and we have further sanctions ready to deploy with the United States and the European Union."
According to the Kremlin, Russia has decided to recognise the independence of Moscow-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.
In response to the developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted, "Given the statements made at the meeting of the Russian Federation's Security Council, I held urgent consultations with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz and convened the National Security and Defence Council."
In response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the independence of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, US Vice President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday imposing a number of sanctions on the region. According to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, the order prohibits "new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in" the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, which are located in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.
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