The United Kingdom announced Wednesday new sanctions against four Russian oligarchs who have put their industries at the service of President Vladimir Putin to support the war that began in Ukraine eight months ago.
«Putin continues to rely on his selective elite clique to maintain control of his industrial complex and fuel his illegal invasion of Ukraine,» the new British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, has exposed.
Those sanctioned are Alexander Abramov, Alexander Frolov, Airat Shaimiev and Albert Shigabutdinov, «four oligarchs who rely on Putin for their positions of authority and, in turn, fund his military machine.»
Cleverly has argued that, by directing new sanctions against these four individuals, it is «increasing the economic pressure on Putin» and will continue to do so «until Ukraine prevails,» the Foreign Ministry statement reads.
Abramov and Frolov, known associates of tycoon Roman Abramovich, have assets of 4.1 billion pounds (4.7 billion euros) and 1.7 billion pounds (1.9 billion euros), respectively, as well as investments in the United Kingdom of about 100 million pounds (116 million euros).
As for businessmen Shaimiev and Shigabutdinov, the former is general director of the state-owned transport and construction company Tatavtodor OJSC, while the latter heads TAIF Group JSC, which controls about 96 percent of chemical and petrochemical processing in the Tatarstan region.
Since the end of March 2021 when President Putin launched what he has called a «special operation» to rid Ukraine of Nazis, the UK has imposed sanctions and restrictions on 120 companies and more than 1,200 individuals including around 100 oligarchs whose fortunes total more than £140 billion (€162.5 billion).
