The United Kingdom on Wednesday announced a new set of sanctions against Russia’s «war machine» people involved in the Kremlin’s «financial networks» on the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on an official visit to London for the first time since the Russian invasion.
The new UK sanctions – against six companies providing military equipment and weapons and eight individuals – are intended to accelerate economic pressure on the Russian military and Kremlin elites, the British Foreign Office has said.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has highlighted Ukraine’s role in this war, in which it has «demonstrated» to Russian President Vladimir Putin that it will not surrender to «tyranny» despite «indiscriminate» attacks on civilian areas and infrastructure by the Russian Army.
«We cannot let it triumph. We must increase our support. These new sanctions accelerate the economic pressure on Putin, undermine his war machine and help Ukraine assert itself,» Cleverly has confided.
«Russia will not have access to the assets we have frozen until it puts an end, once and for all, to its threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,» the head of British diplomacy has pointed out.
Among the sanctioned companies are the drone manufacturer CST, the helicopter parts and components manufacturer RT-Komplekt, and Oborologistics, which manages and transports military equipment to the front lines. Topaz, a software company involved in military aviation, has also been sanctioned.
In turn, a group of people whose relationship and loyalty to President Putin has helped them amass their fortunes have also been sanctioned. These are the cases, for example, of Boris Titov, a high-ranking member of the Russian employers’ association; Viktor Miachin, owner of Aerostart, a Russian aircraft maintenance and repair company; or Sergei Rudnov, owner of the Regum media.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion nearly a year ago, the United Kingdom has sanctioned more than 1,300 individuals and companies for their close links with the Kremlin, in addition to launching another series of «unprecedented» restrictions, together with its international partners, against the sources of financing of the Russian state.
In turn, assets valued at more than 20 billion pounds (22.5 billion euros) have been frozen, the export of machinery and transport equipment has been reduced by 98 percent and travel permits have been restricted for dozens of people because of their relationship with President Putin and his government.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
