UK imposes new sanctions on four Russian oligarchs for their ties to the Kremlin

MADRID, 2 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United Kingdom announced this Wednesday new sanctions on four Russian oligarchs who have put their industries at the service of the president, Vladimir Putin, to support the war that began in Ukraine eight months ago.

"Putin continues to rely on his selective elite clique to maintain control of his industrial complex and fuel his illegal invasion of Ukraine," said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Those sanctioned are Alexander Abramov, Alexander Frolov, Airat Shaimiev and Albert Shigabutdinov, "four oligarchs who trust Putin for their positions of authority and, in turn, finance his military machine."

Cleverly has defended that, directing new sanctions towards these four people, is "increasing economic pressure on Putin" and will continue to be so "until Ukraine prevails", reads the foreign statement.

Abramov and Frolov, well-known partners of the magnate Roman Abramovich, have assets of 4,100 million pounds (4,700 million euros) and 1,700 million pounds (1,900 million euros), respectively, as well as investments in the United Kingdom of about 100 million pounds (116 million euros).

As for the businessmen Shaimiev and Shigabutdinov, the former is CEO of the state-owned transport and construction company Tatavtodor OJSC, while the latter heads TAIF Group JSC, which controls about 96 percent of chemical and petrochemical processing in the Tatarstan region.

Since President Putin began what he has described as a "special operation" to rid Ukraine of Nazis at the end of March 2021, the United Kingdom has imposed sanctions and restrictions on 120 companies and more than 1,200 people, including a hundred of oligarchs whose fortunes amount to more than 140,000 million pounds (162,500 million euros).