New UK sanctions target Russian elites, top diplomat Lavrov, his wife

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s wife is among 206 people being added to Britain’s sanctions list, the Foreign Office announced on Wednesday.

Maria Lavrova is now under a travel ban and has had her assets frozen.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement that 178 of the individuals being added to the sanctions list are those considered to be supporting separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

Truss said: “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.

“We will continue to target all those who aid and abet Putin’s war.”

The sanctions are being coordinated with the EU.

Truss added that the sanctions taken today would also include extending the import ban on Russian goods and the export of luxury goods.

“From tomorrow, we are banning the import of Russian iron and steel, as well as the export of quantum technologies and advanced materials that Putin sorely needs,” Truss said

“We will not rest in our mission to stop Putin’s war machine in its tracks.”

Others who were included on the sanctions list today included Sergey Kozlov, the self-styled chairman of the government of the breakaway Luhansk People's Republic, Alexander Ananchenko, the self-professed prime minister of the Donetsk People's Republic, and more oligarchs.

The Russia-Ukraine war has drawn international outrage, with the European Union, US, and UK, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,892 civilians have been killed and 2,558 injured in Ukraine since Russia started the war on its neighbor on Feb. 24, according to UN estimates, with the true figure believed to be much higher.

More than 4.65 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.