Truss draws up ‘hit list’ of oligarchs to face
sanctions over Ukraine
The Foreign Secretary said Britain will make it
‘deeply painful’ for the super-rich allies of Vladimir Putin.
Gavin
Cordon
1 hour ago
The Foreign
Office is preparing a “hit list” of Russian oligarchs to be targeted by
sanctions in the coming months, Liz Truss has said.
The Foreign
Secretary said there would be “nowhere left to hide” for the super-rich allies
of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
The warning
comes after Boris Johnson last week named eight high net worth Russians who
will be hit by travel bans and asset freezes along with more the 100
individuals, entities and subsidiaries.
In an
interview with The Sunday Times, Ms Truss said there would be new names added
to the list every few weeks as ministers seek to ratchet up the pressure on Mr
Putin following his invasion of Ukraine.
We have to
make it deeply painful for the oligarchs that support the Putin regime
“We’ve
already had letters to the Foreign Office, from lawyers, threatening us, so we
have to make sure the cases are properly prepared and that we have the right
evidence before we sanction these individuals,” she said.
“That is
why we’re taking it step by step, but we are working through that hit list and
we will continue to sanction new oligarchs every few weeks.
“We have to
make it deeply painful for the oligarchs that support the Putin regime. There
are over a hundred Russian billionaires.
“Nothing is
off the table in terms of who or what we are targeting. We are very clear about
that – we are very prepared to do what it takes.”
Ms Truss
warned that the conflict in Ukraine was likely to be protracted with the
Ukrainians determined to resist their Russian invaders.
“This will
be long-running because the Ukrainians are fighting,” she said.
“We can see
they’re very motivated, that they are determined to protect their sovereignty
and their self-determination, so this will be a very long-running conflict.
“And I
don’t know how it will play out. But we must make sure that Putin loses.”
Her Tory
colleague Tom Tugendhat suggested the Government look to a famous US
prosecution for an example of how to pursue Mr Putin and help Russians.
“We can
help Russians with the rule of law,” the MP who chairs the foreign affairs
select committee wrote in The Sunday Telegraph.
“While
Putin’s still killing rivals in Moscow and innocents in Kyiv, we need to bring
actions against him and his gang. Trying him in one for tax evasion and another
for fraud, we’d be drawing on the lessons of the Chicago court that sentenced
Al Capone. Assets stolen decades ago could be returned when Russians had a
government, not a gang. Then, perhaps, a second case could follow, modelled on
a case 15 years later in Nuremberg.”
Mr
Tugendhat said in 1946 a Soviet judge, from Rostov on Ukraine’s border, found
those who started the Second World War guilty of participating in a criminal
conspiracy to wage a war of aggression.
“That same
charge is now Article 353 of the Russian Criminal Code and could be brought
against Putin and his enablers, bringing a fitting end to the second man in 80
years to order an unprovoked attack on Ukraine and fire rockets at civilians in
Kyiv,” the MP added.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário