UK freezes assets of five Russian banks over Ukraine crisis

Part of what has been billed the “first wave” of UK sanctions targeting Russia, foreign secretary Liz Truss said the move would “hit oligarchs and banks close to the Kremlin”.

“It sends a clear message that the UK will use our economic heft to inflict pain on Russia and degrade their strategic interests,” she said in a statement yesterday.

“And we are prepared to go much further if Russia does not pull back from the brink. We will curtail the ability of the Russian state and Russian companies to raise funds in our markets, prohibit a range of high tech exports, and further isolate Russian banks from the global economy.”

The banks affected include Bank Rossiya, which the UK says is is particularly close to the Kremlin, Black Sea Bank for Development and Reconstruction, IS Bank and Genbank. The assets of Promsvyazbank, the pivotal bank in propping up Russia’s defence sector, have also been frozen.

The UK has also frozen the assets of and imposed travel bans on three leading members of the Russian elite of particular significance to the Kremlin: Gennady Timchenko, Russia’s sixth richest oligarch, and Boris and Igor Rotenberg, two of Putin’s long-standing associates.

The UK will also sanction those members of the Russian Duma and Federation Council who voted to recognise the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk.

In the next few weeks, the government intends to extend the territorial sanctions imposed on Crimea to non-government controlled territory in the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, meaning no UK individual or business will be able to deal with this territory until it is returned to Ukrainian control.