The Foreign Office has announced fresh sanctions against Eugene Tenenbaum, a director of Chelsea Football Club, and fellow Russian oligarch David Davidovich.
Both men are described as being “close” to the current Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who has already been sanctioned by the UK and the EU.
While Mr Tenenbaum was hit with an asset freeze, Mr Davidovich, who is described by Forbes as being Mr Abramovich’s “much lower profile right-hand man”, received both an asset freeze and a travel ban.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss announced the government would freeze the pair’s assets – estimated to total up to £10bn – on Thursday afternoon, making this the largest asset freeze action in UK history.
It brings the total number of sanctioned oligarchs, family members and associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin up to 106 since February.
“We are tightening the ratchet on Putin’s war machine and targeting the circle of people closest to the Kremlin,” Ms Truss said of Britain’s latest show of support for Ukraine.
“We will keep going with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.”
She added the move would prevent either of Mr Abramovich’s associates from repatriating their assets to help “fund Putin’s war machine”.
Mr Tenenbaum previously described himself as one of Mr Abramovich’s “closest business associates”, according to the Foreign Office.
Corporate filings show that he took control of Evrington Investments Limited – an Abramovich-linked investment company – on 24 February, the same day Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine. Mr Davidovich then took over Evrington Investments from Mr Tenenbaum a month later.
Sanctions imposed by the UK and its international partners are having “deep and damaging” consequences for Mr Putin’s ability to wage war, the government has said.
Analysis shows Moscow is heading for the deepest recession since the collapse of the Soviet Union, with £275bn – 60 per cent of Russian foreign currency reserves – currently frozen.
The latest sanctions by the UK government come less than 24 hours after it was announced that a court in Jersey had decided to freeze assets worth more than £5bn, thought to be connected to Mr Abramovich’s business activities on the Channel Island.
Mr Abramovich was among several wealthy Russians added last month to the UK and EU sanctions lists over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and governments have since been taking action to seize superyachts and other luxury assets from them.
The billionaire tried to sell Chelsea FC in March, but that process was taken out of his hands by the government after he was sanctioned.
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