British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated on Sunday that the government will widen the scope of sanctions targeting Russia.
“What the legislation enables us to do is hit a much wider variety of targets. So there can be nobody who thinks that they will be immune to those sanctions”, Truss told Sky News.
The foreign secretary claimed, “there will be nowhere to hide for Putin’s oligarchs” and “Russian companies involved in propping up the Russian state”.
The draft law on toughening sanctions on Russia is expected to be presented in the UK Parliament on Monday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also addressed the situation, calling it “increasingly concerning”.
Truss elaborated on the situation later in the day in an opinion piece for The Telegraph.
“Together, we are urging Russia to sit down for proper negotiations, based on the key principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The alternative can only end in tragedy: with an incursion leading inevitably to huge suffering and severe economic consequences through sanctions”, Truss wrote.
“The ball is in Russia’s court. I will continue to make the case with our allies and directly to Moscow for a diplomatic solution. But I am also ready to take the necessary steps to spell out the consequences of continued belligerence”, she added.
The British media earlier suggested that the authorities have been contemplating cutting Russia off from the inter-bank system SWIFT and imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline amid the escalation in Ukraine.
Tensions between Moscow and London have been on the rise over the past few weeks, with the Foreign Office claiming that Russia is planning to “install a puppet government in Kiev”. London even named former Ukrainian MP Yevhen Murayev as a potential leader of the “pro-Russian” government – despite him having been under Russian sanctions since 2018.
Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations about any “invasion plans”, adding that it does not threaten anybody and is not going to attack anyone. The Russian Foreign Ministry has stressed that speculation about “Russian aggression” is being used as a pretext to deploy more NATO troops close to the country’s territory.
Source: Sputnik
