Sanctions and illegal Russian referendums
In Rahman Ravelli’s latest Sanctions Monitor update, Angelika Hellweger details the UK sanctions imposed on those involved with Russia’s referendums in Ukraine.
Voters in four non-government-controlled provinces of southern and eastern Ukraine supposedly agreed to their regions joining Russia, according to Russian referendums regarded as shams by Ukraine and its Western partners.
As a reaction to the referendums, the UK announced a new package of sanctions. G7 leaders condemned the referendums and the European Union and Canada plan to follow the UK and announce plans to impose new sanctions packages.
UK Sanctions
The details of the UK’s latest sanctions package are as follows:
- Thirty-three people who helped arrange the referendums have been sanctioned.
- IMA Consulting, which is said to be Mr Putin's favourite PR agency, was also hit by sanctions after it was said to have been hired to manage the publicity campaigns for the referendums.
- Goznak, a security documents company known for its monopoly on the production of tens of millions of state documents (including expedited passports in the territories), has also been sanctioned, as has LLC Commercial Bank- International Settlements Bank.
- The government also added another four oligarchs to the sanctions list, who have a total estimated net worth of £6.3 billion:
- God Nisanov and Zarakh Iliev, owners of Kievskaya Ploshchad Group, a major construction company (estimated net worth £2 billion).
- Iskander Makhmudov, President and founder of Ural Mining and Metallurgic Company (estimated net worth £2.7 billion).
- Igor Makarov, President and owner of ARETI International Group, a major investor in the oil and gas sector (estimated net worth £1.6 billion).
- The UK sanctioned 55 board members and directors from organisations the government said, "continue to bankroll the Russian war machine". These included board members of Gazprombank (GZPRI.MM), Sberbank (SBER.MM) and Sovcombank.
So far, the UK has sanctioned over 1,200 individuals and more than 120 entities, including over 120 oligarchs with an estimated combined global net worth of at least £130 billion.
