LONDON, September 29. /TASS/. The UK has added 11 new designations to its anti-Russian sanctions list, including Russian Emergencies Minister Alexander Kurenkov and the Central Elections Commission, according to an updated list released on the website of the British government.
The restrictions, which ban entry to the UK and freeze certain assets if they are discovered, have also been imposed against the State Duma’s deputy, head of the Central Executive Committee of the United Russia party Alexander Sidyakin, head of the Kherson Region’s government Andrey Alexeyenko, deputy head of the Zaporozhye Region’s administration Viktor Yemelyanenko, acting deputy chairman of the government of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Vladimir Yezhikov, and secretary of the Russian Central Election Commission Natalya Budarina.
In addition, the restrictions will apply to head of the Kherson Region’s election commission Marina Zakharova, Justice Minister of the Republic of Crimea Oleg Shapovalov, deputy head of the administration of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Igor Babkin, chair of the election commission of the Zaporozhye Region Galina Katyushenko. Trust services sanctions have been imposed against all blacklisted persons.
The new sanctions come one year after Russia’s referendums in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region, the British government said. "The UK will never recognize Russia’s claims to Ukrainian territory," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed.
The UK has blacklisted more than 1,600 Russian people and legal entities since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, including 29 banks that account for 90% of Russia’s banking sector, and 129 major businessmen whose aggregate wealth was estimated at 145 bln pounds ($180 bln at current exchange rate) as of February 2022. The British Foreign Office said earlier that as a result of sanctions, imports of Russian products to the kingdom plunged by 98%, while British exports to Russia lost 77% compared with 2021.