UK sanctions 2 more Russian oligarchs with net worth $19B

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - British government on Thursday said it has imposed sanctions on two more Russian oligarchs for their close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Foreign Office has announced that “a full asset freeze and travel ban has been imposed against Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, two of Russia’s leading oligarchs with significant interests in the UK and close links to the Kremlin.”

The two oligarchs worth a combined $19 billion and the “Putin associates now cut off from their significant UK interests including mansions worth tens of millions.” Their “assets (have been) frozen, both are hit with travel bans and no British citizen or business can deal with them.”

The statement also said the UK foreign secretary is launching an Oligarch Taskforce to target Russian elite with a group of experts who will “coordinate cross-government work to sanction oligarchs, helping build cases against the list of oligarchs it has identified as targets.”

“Our message to Putin and his allies has been clear from day one - invading Ukraine would have serious and crippling economic consequences,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said.

“Sanctioning Usmanov and Shuvalov sends a clear message that we will hit oligarchs and individuals closely associated with the Putin regime and his barbarous war,” she added.

“We won’t stop here. Our aim is to cripple the Russian economy and starve Putin’s war machine.”

Alisher Usmanov is founder of USM Holdings which “sponsors the Everton training ground and has bought the naming rights for their new stadium.”

“His net worth is an estimated $18.4bn,” according to the Foreign Office.

Igor Shuvalov’s positions in the Russian government “include as First Deputy Prime Minister, Government Chief of Staff, and he has twice worked as an aide to Vladimir Putin,” it said.

“He has been chair of the management board of VEB since 2018, one of the banks recently subjected to a full asset freeze.”

These latest sanctions are “part of a tough package against Russia, including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, and banning the Russian State and all Russian companies from raising funds in the UK,” according to the statement.

British government will also “asset freeze every Russian bank,” it said.

“In coordination with the US and other allies, these measures amount to the largest set of financial sanctions in history,” the statement said.

British government will continue to “ratchet up pressure” and use sanctions to “degrade the Russian economy on a scale that the Kremlin, or any major economy, has never seen before,” it added.

The UK has sanctioned 13 Russian oligarchs since the Ukraine-Russia war started, including the latest additions to the list, and more than 220 individuals, entities and their subsidiaries.

“In total, more than 500 Russian individuals, entities and their subsidiaries across all sanctions regimes now sit on our sanctions list,” the Foreign Office said.