UK Announces "Largest And Most Severe Package" Of Sanctions On Russia After Ukraine Invasion

Setting out the sanctions, Johnson said Putin "will never be able to cleanse the blood of Ukraine from his hands" over the sanctions.

He described Putin as "a blood-stained aggressor" and called for his "hideous and barbarous" assault on Ukraine to end.

"We have a clear mission diplomatically, politically, economically, and eventually, militarily. This hideous and barbarous venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure," Johnson told MPs.

He continued that "countries that together comprise about half of the world economy are now engaged in maximising the pressure" on Russia.

The measures announced target all major Russian banks and over 100 individuals, as well as five major oligarchs with close ties to Putin's regime.

These include Petr Fradkov, the CEO of Promsvyazbank and Kirill Shamalov, Russia's youngest billionaire who was previously married to Putin’s daughter.

Other major oligarchs targeted include Denis Bortnikov Deputy President of VTB bank and Yury Slyusar who is the director of United Aircraft Corporation.

Assets worth £154bn in VTB Bank - the second largest bank in Russia are to be frozen. Defence firm Rostec, which has 2 million employees, will also be targeted. 

Individuals and businesses will be bared from transactions with Russia, effectively barring the children of oligarchs from attending British schools. 

All dual export licences — which allow the export of items which can be used for both civillian and military use — will be supended, and a range of high tech exports to Russia relating to defence and the extractives industries will be banned.

All major Russian companies will be prohibited from raising finance on the UK markets, and the Russian state will also be prevented from raising sovereign debt.

The Russian airline Aeroflot will also be banned from landing jets in British territories.

New financial measures that legislation will be laid on Tuesday with further measures on trade legislation to be set out later next week. In total, four or five pieces of secondary legislation will be tabled.

In addition, the UK plans to extend many existing sanctions, plus those announced today, to apply to Belarus, which is closely allied with Russia.

Johnson also set out his intention to ensure Russia was barred from the SWIFT international payments system.

He said efforts to impact the Russian economy were effective so far with Russian stocks down by 45% and their currency, the Russian ruble, plummeted to record lows against the dollar.

Johnson said they have a relentless mission to "squeeze Russia from the global economy piece by piece, day by day, week by week."

"We will counter the Kremlin's blizzard of lies and disinformation by telling the truth about Putin's war of choice and war of aggression," he said.

Johnson met virtually with other G7 leaders earlier on Thursday to discuss their joint response to the crisis, during which he reportedly "stressed the gravity of the situation we are currently facing in Ukraine".

He told his fellow leaders that Putin was trying to "subjugate the people of Ukraine using extreme violence" and insisted his efforts must fail. 
 
The Prime Minister is due to chair another Cobra meeting later this evening to discuss the sanctions and developing situation in Ukraine, and will also hold a meeting of the Cabinet.

Throughout Thursday demonstrators gathered outside of Downing to protest Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

More than 500 people draped in the Ukrainian flag chanted urging Johnson to introduce “sanctions now” and “stop Putin”.

“We are here to demand sanctions on Russia and for the UK government to do everything they can to stop the invasion,” one protestor, Mykola, told PoliticsHome.

Another demonstrator, Maksym, said he couldn’t understand “how in the 21st century Putin is doing this” to his home country of Ukraine.    

This afternoon Maksym’s parents found themselves stuck in highway traffic as they attempted to escape from their hometown towards safer ground.

Among the sea of protestors dressed in yellow and blue – the colours of the Ukrainian flag – was a Russian woman, who told PoliticsHome she is devastated that Putin has plunged the region into a war few civilians want to fight.

“We didn’t expect till yesterday that this war would actually happen,” the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

“I’m so happy that the European Union has agreed to take as many refugees as is possible and of course this is where I can at least smile a bit,” she said.

“I hope that as many Russian people who feel confident enough to come and support our friends and their families (will protest) but there is a lot of fear in our home country.”

Throughout the day MPs, including Lee Anderson, James Daly, Andrew Bowie and Kieran Mullan, visited the protest to speak with demonstrators and discuss the plight of their friends and family in eastern Europe.

Additional reporting from Adam Payne and Noa Hoffman.

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