Boris Johnson: UK to speed up sanctions against Russians
March 5, 2022, 11:35 am

Boris Johnson: UK to speed up sanctions against Russians

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson (File photo: Official Facebook page)

The Arab News reported, citing Reuters, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said thatBritain will be able to move more quickly to sanction Russian businessmen over President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine as a result of new legal measures which will be sent to parliament next week.

Asked by foreign correspondents in London why Roman Abramovich, the highest-profile Russian businessman in Britain due to his ownership of Chelsea Football Club, had not been sanctioned, Johnson said the government had to move carefully.

He was quoted as saying in the interview conducted on Friday by Italy’s La Repubblica and other newspapers: “None of us want to live in a country where the state can take your house off you without a very high burden of proof and due process."

Johnson added: “There’s no point saying, yeah, we’re going to go after him, and then you come up against the brick wall of lawyers. So we have to get it right. We’re also trying not to just make this about one individual.”

Britain has been criticized for not moving as quickly with sanctions against individuals as the European Union, the United States and Canada.

Я хочу звернутися безпосередньо до українців тут, у Великій Британії, й до тих, хто знаходиться в Україні та сусідніх країнах.
Posted by Boris Johnson on Friday, March 4, 2022

Johnson said amendments to Britain’s economic crimes legislation due to be presented to parliament on Monday would help the government act with more speed.

He mentioned: “Top line of what our package on Monday will do is that the measures that you have against individual oligarchs in Europe will essentially allow us to catch them too."

Britain on Thursday sanctioned two more Russians — industrialist Alisher Usmanov and former deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov.

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Abramovich said on Wednesday he would sell Chelsea Football Club and promised to donate money from the sale to help victims of the war in Ukraine.

Source: arabnews

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.