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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russia was heading
towards "pariah status" and that the world must now brace for
the next stage of Putin's plan, saying that the Kremlin was
laying the ground for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Britain has threatened to cut off Russian companies' access to
U.S. dollars and British pounds, blocking them from raising
capital in London and to expose what Johnson calls the "Russian
doll" of property and company ownership.
Johnson told parliament that five banks - Rossiya, IS Bank,
GenBank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank - were being
sanctioned, along with three people - Timchenko, Igor Rotenberg
and Boris Rotenberg.
"This is the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are
prepared to do," Johnson said.
"Any assets they hold in the UK will be frozen and the
individuals concerned will be banned from travelling here,"
Johnson said of the individuals being sanctioned.
Some British lawmakers asked Johnson to be tougher on Russian
money, even demanding that Russian oligarchs be ejected from
Britain and Russian money be dug out of the City of London.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have flowed into London and
Britain's overseas territories from Russia since the fall of the
Soviet Union in 1991, and London has become the Western city of
choice for the super-wealthy of Russia and other former Soviet
republics.
TIMCHENKO
Britain said that Timchenko, one of the founders of Gunvor
trading company, was a major shareholder in Bank Rossiya, itself
a stakeholder in National Media Group which supported the
destabilisation of Ukraine after Russia's 2014 annexation of
Crimea.
"Bank Rossiya has supported the consolidation of Crimea into the
Russian Federation by integrating the financial system following
the annexation of Crimea," Britain said.
Timchenko, who Forbes says is worth 23.5 billion pounds, is a
close ally of Russian President Putin, as are the Rotenbergs,
Johnson said.
"Boris Rotenberg... is a prominent Russian businessman with
close personal ties to (the) Russian President," Britain said.
"Igor Rotenberg is a prominent Russian businessmen with close
familial ties to President Putin."
The U.S. Treasury has also sanctioned the Rotenbergs as being
billionaires who have made fortunes under Putin.
Britain has threatened to cut off Russian companies' access to
U.S. dollars and British pounds, blocking them from raising
capital in London and to expose what Johnson calls the "Russian
doll" of property and company ownership.
"We must now brace ourselves for the next possible stages of
Putin's plan," Johnson said. "Putin is establishing the pretext
for a full scale offensive."
Russia's once mighty superpower economy is now smaller than
Italy's based on IMF data, with a nominal GDP of around $1.7
trillion.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and
Michael Holden)
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