(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. banned all new outward investment in Russia and froze the assets of the country's biggest bank as Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to tighten the squeeze on Vladimir Putin's regime in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Britain slapped a full asset freeze on Sberbank of Russia PJSC in a move co-ordinated with the U.S., and also froze the assets of Credit Bank of Moscow, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement Wednesday. The U.K. will also end all imports of Russian coal and oil by the end of 2022 and sanction another eight wealthy Russians, it said.
The U.K. and western allies are stepping up measures against Russia following allegations this week of atrocities in Ukraine by Russian forces. It's Britain's fifth package of sanctions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
“We are showing the Russian elite that they cannot wash their hands of the atrocities committed on Putin's orders,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in the statement. “We will not rest until Ukraine prevails.”
The latest sanctions package also includes a ban on imports of Russian iron and steel products and restrictions on Russia's ability to buy quantum and advanced material technologies from the U.K.
Russian tycoons targeted in the new sanctions round include:
- PhosAgro founder Andrey Guryev
- Novatek Chief Executive Officer Leonid Mikhelson
- Gazprombank CEO Andrei Akimov
- Gazprom Neft CEO Alexander Dyukov
- Boris Rotenberg, son of the co-owner of Russia's largest gas pipeline producer, SGM Group
Read More: Tracking the Sanctions Imposed on Russia Over Ukraine Invasion
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