The Financial Times seeks Rahman Ravelli’s assessment of the UK’s sanctions approach to Russia

With the UK government emphasising its intention to sanction Russian oligarchs with links to President Vladimir Putin, the Financial Times asked for Rahman Ravelli’s analysis of the situation.

The UK foreign secretary Liz Truss has said she wants to see the sanctioning process quickened by lowering the amount of evidence that law enforcement agencies need to take action. But critics have accused the government of being too slow to target those with links to the Russian regime.

Rahman Ravelli told the FT that it was “very hard”, even under UK law, for sanctioned individuals to successfully challenge the government. They said that it is already the case that the authorities do not need a “massive amount of proof’’ to take action against an individual.

Rahman Ravelli said: “I think really what’s driving the UK’s slowness to react is just the amount of Russian money that is in London, and the amount of interconnectedness between the UK and Russian economies. They’re very reluctant to disrupt that from an economic perspective.”

You can read Rahman Ravelli's comments by visiting the Financial Times website. (Subscription required)