Over $20B in Russian assets frozen in UK

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - Britain has frozen over £18 billion ($20.5 billion) in Russian assets, the government agency for enforcing financial sanctions announced on Thursday.

The figure, around £6 billion ($6.83 billion) more than those held across all other UK sanctions regimes, was released in an annual review by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI).

A government statement said that, in conjunction with its allies, the UK has imposed the most severe sanctions Russia has ever faced, "designating more than 1,200 individuals, over 120 entities and freezing the assets of 19 Russian banks with global assets of £940 billion ($1.07 trillion) since they began their illegal invasion."

Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: "As staunch defenders of democracy, the UK is united with its allies in opposition to Russia's barbaric and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. We have imposed the most severe sanctions ever on Russia and it is crippling their war machine.

"To make sure we are doing all we can to keep the pressure on Putin's corrupt cronies we are more than doubling OFSI's headcount. Our message is clear: we will not allow Putin to succeed in this brutal war."

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a minister in the British Foreign Office, said the report showed the scale of UK sanctions, freezing over £18 billion ($20.5 billion) of Russian assets to "stop Putin funding his war machine. We will continue to ramp up our sanctions to exert maximum economic pressure on the Russian regime until Ukraine prevail."

The government statement added that sanctions were degrading Moscow's military machine, with Russia's GDP predicted to decline by up to 6.2% in 2022 when compared to pre-invasion forecasts, and fall a further 2.3% next year.

It added that 60% of Russia's foreign reserves have been immobilized, while Russian exports have plummeted and imports of critical goods from sanctioning countries have dropped by 68%.

"The Russia sanctions regime will continue to play a major part of the OFSI's work for as long as Putin's illegal war against Ukraine continues," the statement said.