Number 10 ‘prioritising’ sanctions on Russian banks over Kremlin-linked oligarchs
The UK is prioritising sanctions on Russian financial services firms instead of oligarchs because it will have a larger effect on stopping the “Russian war machine”, according to Number 10.
Boris Johnson has been criticised in the past few days for not levelling more sanctions against Kremlin-linked oligarchs, particularly Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, as the EU ramps up its asset freezes against billionaire Putin allies.
The Times reported today that the UK had held off on sanctioning as many individuals as the EU, because it had not yet built a legal case against them that was watertight.
The UK has sanctioned eight oligarchs in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, along with Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Johnson’s spokesperson told journalists today that “sanctioning individuals plays an important role in this, but we are prioritising what we think will have the biggest impact first”.
The UK government has said it will freeze the assets of every major Russian bank and block them out from Canada.
Johnson also led calls to block Russian banks from the Swift messaging system, which is crucial to the global payments system, and helped convince the EU to agree to the measure.
“What’s important is what puts the most pressure on Putin’s regime – putting sanctions on large banks and companies. The banks we’ve sanctioned have £200bn of assets,” Johnson’s spokesman said.
“Thar’s what we think will put the most pressure on Putin’s regime and throttle off legal funding against its invasion of Ukraine. What we know is funding the Russian war machine are things like banks.”
The EU has sanctioned dozens of oligarchs linked to Putin’s regime, including major Everton sponsor Alisher Usmanov and London-based financier Mikhail Fridman.
There were reports today of European authorities seizing Russian superyachts worth hundreds of millions of pounds, with Germany taking away Usmanov’s $600m yacht.
The reports prompted senior Tory MP Tom Tugendhat to tweet that “we have flats [in London] that need seizing – now”.
More UK sanctions on Russian oligarchs have been held up by the The Foreign Office and National Crime Agency because they have not pinned down “reasonable grounds” and are wary of legal challenges, according to The Times.
A government source told the paper: “We have issues with both the legal capacity and the investigative capacity. There are some very fundamental issues in even identifying their assets, never mind linking them to the Putin regime.
“We’re talking about weeks and months.”