The United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced further sanctions against Russian and Belarusian citizens and companies on Thursday, targeting “key industries supporting Russia’s illegal invasion.”
The latest sanctions target 65 individuals and entities, including six banks, Russian Railways, a defense company and the Wagner Group, a secretive Russian military contractor thought to be connected to — and financed by — Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch so close to the Kremlin that he is known as President Vladimir Putin’s “chef.”
The newly sanctioned individuals include oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler, Tinkoff bank founder Oleg Tinkov, and Herman Gref, the CEO of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank.
The latest announcement also sees the Russian-installed mayor of Melitopol sanctioned. It is the first time an individual has been sanctioned for collaboration with Russian forces currently in Ukraine, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
More than 1,000 individuals and entities have now been sanctioned, according to the FCDO.
The latest asset freezes bring the global asset value of sanctioned banks, now including Russia’s largest private bank Alfa-Bank, to £500 billion ($658 billion). The net worth of oligarchs and family members sanctioned is in excess of £150 billion, the FCDO said.
“These oligarchs, businesses and hired thugs are complicit in the murder of innocent civilians and it is right that they pay the price. Putin should be under no illusions — we are united with our allies and will keep tightening the screw on the Russian economy to help ensure he fails in Ukraine. There will be no let-up,” Truss said.
More is likely to come from the United States and its allies. US President Joe Biden is in Europe on a high-stakes trip that includes meetings with EU, NATO and G7 leaders. He hopes to emerge from an intensive day of meetings Thursday with some new actions to announce alongside his partners: fresh sanctions on Russia, steps to cut off its oil and gas profits, or new announcements of military or financial assistance to Ukraine.
Sanctions already announced by the West against Russian oligarchs and Russia’s central bank mean that the country’s economy will be isolated for years. It is facing its deepest recession since the 1990s, and gross domestic product will plummet 22% over 2022, according to a forecast published by S&P Global Market Intelligence on Tuesday.
CNN’s Charles Riley and Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.
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