LONDON, March 3. /TASS/. The UK has introduced sanctions against Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov and VEB.RF Chairman Igor Shuvalov, the UK Foreign Office announced in a statement on Thursday.
The assets of Usmanov and Shuvalov in the UK have been frozen, the two are banned from entering the country. As the reason for imposing sanctions against Usmanov and Shuvalov the Foreign Office names their "significant interests in the UK" and "close links to Kremlin."
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss noted that the sanctions against the Russian entrepreneurs should lead to "serious and crippling economic consequences."
The Foreign Office notes that Usmanov owns a mansion worth 48 mln pounds (almost $64 mln) in the Highgate area in the north of the British capital, another businessman's mansion is located in Surrey near London. Regarding Shuvalov, it is alleged that he owns two apartments in central London worth 11 million pounds (about $15 mln).
Since the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the UK "has sanctioned 11 of Russia's leading oligarchs, so with these designations the number rises to 13," the UK Foreign Office notes. During this period, "more than 220 individuals and entities have been caught by our sanctions. This includes individuals, entities and their subsidiaries. In total, more than 500 Russian individuals, entities and their subsidiaries across all sanctions regimes now sit on our sanctions list," the Foreign Office adds.
In addition to that, sanctions have been imposed the Bank of Russia and a number of Russian banks, the British sky has been closed for Russian planes, Russian ships are banned from entering British ports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation. The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. After that the US, the EU, the UK and a number of other states announced that they would impose sanctions against Russian legal entities and individuals.