(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. imposed sanctions on two of Russia's wealthiest men, Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, as it stepped up measures to punish Vladimir Putin's administration following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Usmanov and Shuvalov -- worth a combined $19 billion according to the British government -- will have assets including mansions worth tens of millions of pounds frozen in the U.K., the Foreign Office said late Thursday in an emailed statement. The men are also subject to a travel ban, and no British citizen or business is allowed to deal with them, it said.
The sanctions come with Boris Johnson facing growing criticism from politicians over perceived foot-dragging in targeting wealthy Russians with sanctions, even as the Prime Minister seeks to put the U.K. at the forefront of the West's response to the invasion.
It brings to 11 the number of Russian tycoons and businessmen targeted by U.K. sanctions since last week's invasion. More widely, the U.K. targeted more than 100 Russian individuals and entities, while Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov have had their assets frozen. Russian planes and ships are barred from U.K. ports and airports, and Russia's central bank, finance ministry and National Wealth Fund are prohibited from accessing U.K. financial services.
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“We won't stop here,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. “Our aim is to cripple the Russian economy and starve Putin's war machine.”
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Opposition Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer asked Johnson specifically about Shuvalov in the House of Commons on Wednesday, and also questioned Johnson about his failure so far to sanction Roman Abramovich, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and owns London's Chelsea Football Club. Johnson replied that it wasn't “appropriate” to comment on individuals.
Usmanov has had “significant interests” in the English football clubs Everton and Arsenal, and owns a house in north London valued at 48 million pounds ($64 million), according to the Foreign Office. Shuvalov's U.K. assets include two London apartments worth an estimated 11 million pounds, it said.
The Foreign Office also said it will set up an “Oligarch Taskforce” composed of ministers and officials to co-ordinate efforts to sanction wealthy Russians and build cases against them.
Tensions between the U.K. and Russia predate Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In 2018, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury. The British government says agents acting on behalf of the Kremlin were behind the poisonings; Russia has denied involvement.
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