JUST IN: UK Sanctions Seven Russians Including Chelsea’s Abramovich

The United Kingdom (UK) government has sanctioned seven Russians Including Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich.

Gatekeepers News reports that the U.K. government announced the sanction on Thursday following Russia’s continuous attack on Ukrainian citizens.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced a full asset freeze and travel ban on seven of Russia’s wealthiest and most influential oligarchs, whose business empires, wealth, and connections are closely associated with the Kremlin.

This is part of the UK’s leading efforts to isolate Russian Leader, Vladimir Putin and those around him, these oligarchs – who have a collective net worth of around £15bn.

This new sanction will have their assets in the UK frozen; they are banned from travelling here and no UK citizen or company may do business with them.

Those newly-sanctioned by the UK include Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, worth more than £9 billion; leading industrialist Oleg Deripaska worth £2 billion, and Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

A further group of Russia-based oligarchs close to Putin has also been placed under sanction.

See their details below:

Roman Abramovich owner of Chelsea FC and has stakes in steel giant Evraz and Norilsk Nickel
Oleg Deripaska has stakes in En+ Group
Igor Sechin is the Chief Executive of Rosneft
Andrey Kostin is Chairman of VTB bank
Alexei Miller is CEO of energy company Gazprom
Nikolai Tokarev is president of the Russian state-owned pipeline company Transneft
Dmitri Lebedev is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Rossiya

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “There can be no safe havens for those who have supported Putin’s vicious assault on Ukraine.

“Today’s sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s unwavering support for the Ukrainian people. We will be ruthless in pursuing those who enable the killing of civilians, destruction of hospitals, and illegal occupation of sovereign allies.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on her part said, “Today’s sanctions show once again that oligarchs and kleptocrats have no place in our economy or society. With their close links to Putin they are complicit in his aggression.

“The blood of the Ukrainian people is on their hands. They should hang their heads in shame.

“Our support for Ukraine will not waver. We will not stop in this mission to ramp up the pressure on the Putin regime and choke off funds to his brutal war machine.”

These sanctions are the latest step in the UK’s response to Putin’s invasion, designed to ensure he fails in Ukraine by crippling Russia’s economy which is supporting his war machine.