LONDON — The British authorities mentioned on Tuesday that it had imposed sanctions on greater than 370 people it described as oligarchs, political allies or propagandists for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, a significant new crackdown that brings it nearer in keeping with the European Union on a problem that has lengthy dogged Britain.
The sanctions, introduced by the overseas secretary, Liz Truss, embody a journey ban and can freeze the belongings of distinguished Russians in enterprise and authorities, together with a number of the wealthiest oligarchs and most senior officers within the Kremlin.
Amongst these on the newest record: Dmitri A. Medvedev, the previous president of Russia; Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin; Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary; Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s overseas ministry; Sergei Shoigu, the protection minister; and Mikhail Fridman, the billionaire founding father of Alfa Financial institution, one in every of Russia’s largest non-public banks.
“We’re going additional and quicker than ever in hitting these closest to Putin — from main oligarchs to his prime minister and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation,” Ms. Truss mentioned in a press release. “We’re holding them to account for his or her complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.”
Final week, Britain imposed sanctions on Roman Abramovich, the billionaire proprietor of the Chelsea soccer membership in London. However the authorities has confronted criticism for shifting slowly in opposition to different rich Russians, lots of whom personal property in London or have insinuated themselves into British politics and society.
The oligarchs focused on Tuesday have an estimated mixed web wealth of greater than $130 billion. Some, like Mr. Fridman, personal baronial residences in London. On Monday, eight protesters had been arrested after occupying the balcony of a London mansion linked to a different oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, who was focused by sanctions final week together with Mr. Abramovich.
The newest batch of sanctions had been imposed beneath a brand new Financial Crime Act, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s authorities launched in an effort to strive, belatedly, to stem the movement of corrupt cash into Britain from oligarchs and different rich foreigners. The act allows Britain to mechanically impose the penalties on people who find themselves beneath European Union sanctions.
The federal government mentioned it had developed its personal sanctions instances in opposition to 4 main oligarchs: Mr. Fridman and two of his companions, Petr Aven and German Khan; in addition to Oleg Matveychev, a member of Russia’s Parliament, whom British officers describe as a propagandist for Mr. Putin.
