EU urges UK to act faster before Russian assets are spirited away
Boris Johnson is under growing pressure from the EU to go further and faster in sanctioning Russian oligarchs over fears that assets are being swept out of the UK.
Contrary to the prime minister’s claims to be leading the world in the economic response to the invasion of Ukraine, there is frustration among allies over the UK’s lethargy in hitting Russian wealth.
The government is being urged in behind-the-scenes discussions with the EU to target more named individuals believed to be sheltering their wealth in London property and financial structures.
That private frustration was made public in comments from Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s first vice-president on Thursday. “I don’t hesitate to say this,” Timmermans told the BBC. “The UK is now following our lead. And I’m sure they will continue to follow the lead because the pressure of the public opinion in the UK is very clear about this.
“And I think now even parties who accepted funding from oligarchs should understand that they, you know, they need to change course, because that’s what – if I don’t misunderstand the public mood in the UK – that’s what the British public want.”
The Foreign Office has for days been promising to publish a schedule of oligarchs it will hit, but as yet just eight such individuals with links to Vladimir Putin have been listed.
Meanwhile, among the 680 individuals subject to EU asset freezes and travel bans, are tens of named oligarchs or Putin allies, including Igor Shuvalov, formerly Vladimir Putin’s deputy prime minister, who sits on the Russian security council.
Asked about the discrepancy between the UK and EU record on sanctioning individuals around Putin, the Home Office minister Damian Hinds told the BBC that “it was not a
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