What are the sanctions against Russia? List of UK sanctions against Russian companies and oligarchs

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov and former Russian deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov are two targets of the UK’s latest round of sanctions targeting Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Usmanov , who has had ties to Arsenal and Everton football clubs, has been hit with a travel ban and full asset freeze, as has Shuvalov.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the UK has sanctioned 13 of Russia’s leading oligarchs. The Government said more than 220 individuals and entities have been “caught by our sanctions” since the invasion.

But is the UK going far enough, and what more could be done?

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What has the UK done?

Overall, more than 500 Russian individuals, entities and their subsidiaries across all sanctions regimes now sit on the UK’s sanctions list, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Government has also said it has put in place a “tough package” against Russia, including sanctioning the Russian Central Bank, and banning the Russian state and all Russian companies from raising funds in the UK.

The Government said it will also asset freeze every Russian bank.

Alongside the US and other allies, the UK says the measures against Russia amount to the largest set of financial sanctions in history.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK has sanctioned “more Russian banks than the EU”, including the biggest Russian bank Sberbank.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve made it clear and introduced measures so that three million Russian companies cannot raise loans or get listed on the UK stock market.”

Other actions include a ban on Russia’s flag carrier Aeroflot landing in the UK, as well as Russian private jets.

On 1 March, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the UK had become the first country to pass a law banning ships with “any Russian connection” from entering its ports.

What else could be done?

Some critics of the UK government have said the UK has been far too soft”, and have rejected the Government’s claims that it has been working strongly against economic levers for Putin-linked individuals.

Government sources have conceded that it could take “weeks and months” to build legally sound cases against wealthy and litigious targets.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is understood to have tripled the size of the sanctions team in recent months.

She will establish an Oligarch Taskforce of ministers and officials from departments including the Home Office, the Treasury and the National Crime Agency to coordinate sanctions and build cases against targets.

Truss said the aim is to “cripple the Russian economy and starve Putin’s war machine”.

Have sanctions worked?

Raab has said while economic sanctions are “starting to bite”, Britain and its allies need to “bed in and have the strategic stamina for the long haul”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme people can expect that “Putin would resort to ever more barbaric measures as he gets frustrated”, saying that is what everyone needs to be “alert to”.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.