UK Sanctions Hundreds More Russians But Volodymyr Zelenskyy Says West Must Do More

Britain has slapped hundreds more Russians with sanctions, as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the West to do more to stop the Russian invasion of his country.

The Foreign Office announced on Tuesday that 370 Russian people and entities had been added to the sanctions list.

It means more than 1,000 Russian companies and individuals have been sanctioned since the war started nearly three weeks ago.

Earlier the government also announced it was banning the export to Russia of high-end luxury goods including fashion, artworks and vehicles.

Import tariffs on Russian products including vodka will also be increased in a further attempt to cripple the country’s economy.  

Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said the UK was “going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin.”

“From major oligarchs, to his prime minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation.

We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.”

Those sanctioned include Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu and Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

It follows the passage of the economic crime bill last night which the government said was needed to further crackdown on “dirty money”.

In a video call with Boris Johnson and other Western leaders, Zelenskyy welcomed Western sanctions.

But he said they were “not enough” to stop Vladimir Putin and called for a full trade embargo.

Zelenskyy also renewed he plea for Nato to impose a no-fly zone over his country and said many in the West had been “hypnotised” by Russia.

“We have to acknowledge Russia as a rogue state and there has to be a trade embargo with Russia,” he said.

“This is something that we need and you need as well, just like the rest of the world, to make sure there is peace in Europe and Ukraine.”

Commenting on the latest measures targeting Russian-made products, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “Our new tariffs will further isolate the Russian economy from global trade, ensuring it does not benefit from the rules-based international system it does not respect.

“These tariffs build on the UK’s existing work to starve Russia’s access to international finance, sanction Putin’s cronies and exert maximum economic pressure on his regime.”