UK announces sanctions against Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov, Igor Shuvalov

The UK has announced the designations (asset freeze and travel ban) of Alisher Usmanov and Igor Shuvalov, said to be “two of Russia’s leading oligarchs with significant interests in the UK and close links to the Kremlin”.

The Press Release also says the Foreign Secretary will establish an Oligarch Taskforce to coordinate cross-government work to sanction oligarchs, “helping build cases against the list of oligarchs it has identified as targets”. This will include ministers and officials from departments including the Home Office, Treasury, Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the National Crime Agency. A similar interagency initiative, ‘Task Force KleptoCapture’, has been launched by the US.

The government has also announced that it will introduce legislation to prohibit UK-based insurance and reinsurance providers from transacting with Russian entities in the aviation or space industries. The EU has already imposed a similar ban.