The UK government has imposed sanctions on another 206 individuals in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including 178 people it said were involved in propping up the self-proclaimed republics in Luhansk and Donetsk.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said the latest sanctions were imposed in a direct response to the “horrific rocket attacks” on a train station in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, that killed dozens of civilians.
“In the wake of horrific rocket attacks on civilians in eastern Ukraine, we are today sanctioning those who prop up the illegal breakaway regions and are complicit in atrocities against the Ukrainian people,” Truss said. “We will continue to target all those who aid and abet Putin’s war. We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin’s war machine in its tracks.”
The sanctions are being coordinated with the EU, the Foreign Office said.
Those hit by the fresh sanctions include Alexander Ananchenko and Sergey Kozlov, the self-styled prime minister and chair of government of the self-proclaimed breakaway republics of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Other notable figures added to the list include:
Vladimir Yakunin, a former head of Russian Railways who the Foreign Office said had close ties to Putin. The US had already imposed sanctions on Yakunin.
Igor Kesaev, the founder of the cigarette company Megapolis, who the UK says has a £2.9bn fortune.
Saodat Narzieva, “a pro-Kremlin oligarch with close ties to Putin” and a sister of Alisher Usmanov. She was hit with EU sanctions last week.
Additional family members and staff of Russian oligarchs already facing sanctions were also added to the list, including Pavel Ezubov, a cousin of Oleg Deripaska, and Nigina Zairova, an executive assistant to Mikhail Fridman.
The UK announced it would ban the import of Russian iron and steel from Friday. Truss said Britain would also prohibit “the export of quantum technologies and advanced materials that Putin sorely needs”.
