Roman Abramovich has been hit with sanctions
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)After facing criticism for being too slow to target billionaire Russian oligarchs with links to the Kremlin, Britain has stepped up the pace on sanctions in recent days.
On Thursday the UK became the first country to slap sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich who had his assets frozen along with six other tycoons suspected of being members of Mr Putin’s inner circle including mining and metals magnate Oleg Deripaska.
Then on Friday 386 members of the Russian Duma were added to the UK’s growing sanctions list as the Government said it was tightening the screw on Vladimir Putin’s regime over his invasion of Ukraine.
So how many oligarchs, companies and entities have been sanctioned now by Britain and how do those numbers compare with other western allies?
Total UK sanctions since Ukraine invasion
The Foreign Office says the UK has now sanctioned more than 500 of Russia’s most significant and high-value individuals, entities and subsidiaries.
But according to ComplyAdvantage, a City data firm which provides sanctions alerts to banks and other businesses so they can enforce financial measures on companies and individuals, the UK number was 421 just after lunchtime on Friday.
One of the reasons for the discrepancy is the time lag between the Foreign Office announcing the intention to sanction an individual or company and the instruction being sent out by the Treasury Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.
The lag between the Government list and the updated database for banks and other payment services firms is important because until they are notified then the sanctions are not being enforced.
Any major delay could risk an individual transferring assets out of the UK before they are actually sanctioned, sanctions experts said.
How has the UK’s overall sanctions tally changed in the last 48 hours?
According to Charlie Delingole, chief executive of ComplyAdvantage, the UK has increased its overall Ukraine-related sanctions significantly in the last few days.
He said: “The number of entities and individuals sanctioned since the invasion has risen from 34 on Thursday and 27 three days ago to 421.”
Tom Keatinge, Director, for the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank, said: “It’s good they have managed to get their act together.”
But he added: “I stand by my comments that UK was not ready and had not been preparing the ground.”
Interestingly the sudden surge in sanctions activity by the Government has come ahead of imminent changes to the Economic Crime Bill which was supposed to streamline the sanctions process, making it easier to match sanctions imposed by other western allies on oligarchs and Russian entities.
Mr Keatinge said: “I don’t quite know what has happened this week to make the Government speed up because essentially nothing has changed with the law.”
Government sources point to the enormous amount of work required to get to the point of being able to sanction an individual like Mr Abramovich and Digital Minister Chris Philp pointed out earlier on Friday that all steps needed to be taken to ensure the sanctions were legally watertight.
Having said all that it is worth noting that apart from Mr Abramovich all the other six oligarchs sanctioned by the UK on Thursday were already on EU or US sanctions lists.
How many oligarchs have the UK now sanctioned?
The Government says that since the invasion they have sanctioned a total of 18 oligarchs who have a combined wealth of over £30bn, according to Forbes.
This number rises to 23 when five more oligarchs who were already on the list before the invasion are included.
In addition to these individuals - and the 386 Duma members added on Friday - another six have been sanctioned since the war started.
These include Mr Putin himself and the Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov who had their assets frozen by Britain and had travel bans imposed on February 25.
How does the UK compare to other western nations?
Until the big jump in the past two days, the UK was considerably behind other western powers.
According to data released by ComplyAdvantage, the EU is top with 675, France second with 668 and Switzerland third with 599.
The UK is in seventh palace but now ahead of the US which is on 355.
Ms Truss said: “We’re targeting those complicit in Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and those who support this barbaric war. We will not let up the pressure and will continue to tighten the screw on the Russian economy through sanctions.
“Together with our allies, we stand firmly beside our Ukrainian friends. We will continue to support Ukraine with humanitarian aid, defensive weapons and diplomatic work to isolate Russia internationally.”
