Politics
Putin Unwavered In His Aggression As He Puts Russia’s Nuclear Forces On Alert
February 27, 2022
February 23, 2022
The UK is ready to escalate sanctions against Russia in the event of a full invasion of Ukraine, the foreign secretary has said. Liz Truss defended criticisms of measures announced by the government on Tuesday, describing them as "severe".
She said it was important to keep further sanctions "in the locker".
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered troops to be sent into two Ukrainian regions held by Russian-backed separatists. On Tuesday Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions against Russia in response, with five banks having their assets frozen, along with those of three Russian billionaires - who will also be hit with the UK travel bans.
But a number of MPs, including some Conservatives, have called for tougher measures, with shadow foreign secretary David Lammy saying the "mood of the entire House of Commons was that the government wasn't being strong enough".
Downing Street will hold a summit later with finance chiefs and regulators to discuss how to make sanctions effective. It is also anticipated that Mr. Johnson will outline more military support for Ukraine later today.
'Turning up the heat'
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Ms. Truss said the sanctions were the most severe the UK had ever placed on Russia."The sanctions we're putting in place are coordinated with the United States, they're coordinated with Europe, to make sure that Vladimir Putin cannot play divide and rule amongst the allies.
"We've shown we are united and we will escalate those sanctions in the event of a full invasion into Ukraine." She also defended donations made by Russians to the Conservative Party, saying every donation had to be fully declared and donors were required to be on the electoral register.
The foreign secretary said the government would target "without prejudice" anybody who is helping "prop up Vladimir Putin's appalling regime".
At the start of this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Russia the UK was "preparing a package of sanctions and other measures to be enacted the moment the first Russian toe cap crosses further into Ukrainian territory".
Ms Truss also said the UK would restrict the Russian state and key companies from raising funding in UK financial markets, as well as ban a range of high-tech exports to Russia, "degrading the development of its military-industrial base for years".
Russia "establishing the pretext for a full-scale offensive".
Announcing the UK's "first barrage" of sanctions on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson told MPs that Russian tanks had already been seen in the breakaway regions and that it amounted to a "renewed invasion" - following Russia's previous illegal takeover of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said Russia should be cut out of the global financial system Swift, with greater efforts made to damage the Russian currency, including removing the country from the UK's currency markets. "If we're serious we've got to go hard," he said.
Lord Kim Darroch, a former UK ambassador to the US, told BBC Breakfast the UK's sanctions appeared "pretty modest" compared to the EU's and particularly Germany's suspension of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
But he added: "All that said, I can understand why the government will want to hold some things back, because if there is the kind of escalation that I've talked about then we'll need to hit Russia much, much harder with sanctions."
Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government needed to take action that Mr. Putin is not expecting. "The most important is to do sanctions - economic and financial sanctions - that are tough enough and last long enough to reduce the ability of the Russian state to finance the Russian military.
