LONDON — The U.K. has sanctioned the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, which is reportedly tasked with killing the Ukrainian president.
The latest round of 65 sanctions, announced Thursday, are the latest imposed by the U.K. on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Britain expanded its list of targets to include defense firm and drone builder Kronshtadt; Alrosa, the Russian diamond mining company; the private bank Alfa and five other Russian banks, and Russian Railways.
The new package of sanctions also affects individuals, including billionaire oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler; founder of Tinkoff bank Oleg Tinkov; Herman Gref, chief executive of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank; Didier Casimiro, first vice president of oil company Rosneft; and Polina Kovaleva, daughter of a woman believed to have a romantic relationship with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Galina Danilchenko, who Russia declared as the new “mayor” of the Ukrainian city of Melitopol, has also been added to the U.K. list of sanctions. This is the first time an individual has been sanctioned for collaboration with Russian forces currently in Ukraine.
Sanctioned companies and individuals have had their assets in the U.K. frozen, and can’t do business with British citizens or firms. Individuals are also subject to a travel ban limiting their travel to or from Britain.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who arrived in Brussels with Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a series of high-level meetings, said “these oligarchs, businesses and hired thugs are complicit in the murder of innocent civilians and it is right that they pay the price.”